


Pink is far too close to red

by Demonlucy



Category: Homestuck
Genre: (past) dirk/ jake, Amnesia, Dave/ John (moirail), Dirk / Jake (moirail), Drowning, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Original Character Death(s), Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Pirates, Prince Dirk, Rose/ Dave (moirail), Royality AU, Sibling Incest, Slow Build, Stridercest - Freeform, everyone is pale for dave, possible other ships, unless I mention otherwise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-23
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-03-25 11:10:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 23,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3808201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demonlucy/pseuds/Demonlucy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your name is Dirk Strider; you’re seventeen years old and are the only heir to the throne.<br/>Long story short you are the Prince of the Hearts kingdom.<br/>You had a twin brother but you would rather not dwell on that thought right now, since the memories of him are laced with anger, guilt and sorrow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Far Too Much Pink

**Author's Note:**

> I'll come up with a better title at a later date.
> 
> This is my first Homestuck fic so all of the characters will most likely NOT be in character *shrugs*  
> Please forgive spelling/ grammar/ punctuation mistakes, I don't have a Beta reader :/
> 
> I hope that you all enjoy it!! And let me know what you think~<3
> 
> Dirk's POV~

Your name is Dirk Strider; you’re seventeen years old and are the only heir to the throne.  
Long story short you are the Prince of the Hearts kingdom.  
You had a twin brother but you would rather not dwell on that thought, since the memories of him are laced with anger, guilt and sorrow.

You let a silent sigh escape from your lips and move your amber gaze from the old chalk board and the equally old man in front of it who was trying to teach you something that you already knew, and instead fix your eyes on the world outside of the grand slightly pink tinted windows.  
“-the land that is ether controlled by Derse or Prospit is not the only land on our planet, however very few know this fact-“ 

The tutoring room that you where currently sat in was one of the smaller rooms of the castle in which you lived in. Alone. 

“-the veil is a deadly place in which few travellers have ever returned from. It is the breeding grounds of thieves, killers and demons-“

The tall rosy windows on the right overlooked the beautiful garden that you’re sure your mother had arranged some time before her early death because every single plant in the garden was a different shade of pink, from the cherry blossom trees to the pink rose bushes. You sometimes believe that the entire kingdom has an obsession with the colour, not that you partially mind the colour but it does get a little tiring after a while and pink is a little too close to red for your liking.  
Your eyes slowly removed themselves from the world outside and focused once again on the world inside the palace walls and most importantly focus on your teacher... who was no longer in the room. You blink once, twice.

“You’re looking a little lost my good chum.” The jolly voice of your friend, Jake English, came from your left. You turn your head to face the smaller raven haired boy that was sat next to you. Though your face doesn’t show any emotion, you are slightly surprised that your friend managed to sneak up on you.

Jake lets out a bit of a chuckle at Dirks blank face “I think you where having one of your star gazing moments.”  
“It seems like I was, I wonder how long I was spacing out.” you mused slightly to yourself as we both stood up and exited the room to wonder the halls. “So what are you doing back in the Heart kingdom? Last time I saw you, you where off to some adventure over in Prospit, you where staying in kingdom of Hope’s castle, correct?” You asked as both of you walked, the light footsteps echoing in the tall hallways.

He nods softly, the ever present smile on his lips morphing slightly into a grimace as he spoke “Yes, well I was having a smashing time adventuring and practising my fisty cuffs over there but just between you and me the Prince is a rather brash fellow.” You gave a small snort and let your lips twitch up into a smirk “Yeah, he can be such a little brat.” Jake nods vigorously in agreement. 

The two of you end up outside in one of the many gardens that surround the palace. Deciding to take refuge from the midday sun, you find your selves sat under one of the larger cherry blossom trees. “So what where you doing before I came to free you from the no good ruffian that is boredom?” Jake asked after a minute or two, the raven haired boy already stretched out on the grass under nether the tree, you lent against the trunk of the tree instead of lying down. Not quite willing to have your face or most of your body that close to where there could be thousands of insects and other undesirable things.  
“Well before you saved me, my hero, I was having to sit and listen to some old man lecture on and on about the geography of the world and the history of the kingdom that I will soon inherit.” You say with another sigh and a roll of your eyes.

“Oh my, that does sound troublesome since I’m sure you have already memorised every scrap of information that you need.” Jake flashed a grin up at you and continued talking “So when you turn eighteen how will you rule your kingdom, mister Destroyer of Souls?”  
You arch your eyebrow and scoff “What? Destroyer of souls? Is that what they are calling me now?” you ask in amusement, a small smile pulling at your lips. Honestly the title sounded pretty cool in your opinion. Jake chuckled and rolled onto his stomach, chin resting on his palm as he looked over at you “Positive. Any idea as to how the new nickname started my dear pal?” he asked giving you the ‘I know you did something, so spill it’ look that can only be shared between friends. You roll your eyes again at the stare but find your eyes looking away from him in slight guilt “I may have crushed a few maidenly hearts at the last ball.” You mumble out, crossing your arms and slouching uncharacteristically against the tree. 

“Elaborate old chum.” Jake said, continuing his stare. “Several... Okay stop with the face, I broke the heart of every maiden in the entire ball... and their mothers.” You huff giving the mocha skinned boy a playful shove in the face, making him roll back onto his back with a hearty chuckle. “Some prince of heart you are, removing all those beautiful ladies of their hopes of becoming your queen.” He sighed dramatically with one hand over his eyes. “At least tell me that you had a dance with a fair lady or two, Dirk.”  
You looked over that him, meeting his bright green eyes “I danced with Roxy.” You actually only danced with Roxy, she was your childhood friend after all and although you don’t particularly like dancing, it was the only thing that would keep all the unmarried woman away from you. If you weren’t already attracted to men, you would have been scared off the female sex long ago.  
“Roxy is a top notch lass and all but she doesn’t count.” Jake said with a pout. “I know but I didn’t really want to dance with someone who looks like they are about ready to devour me. Besides isn’t it better to crush the hope than give false hope? I mean it’s not like I’m ever going to have a Queen Jake.” You look up at the pink petals as they dance in the soft wind.

There was a soft shuffling sound as Jake moved to sit next to you, leaning his head comfortingly on your shoulder “You could just tell your people that you prefer gentlemen to ladies. They would understand, this is the kingdom of Heart after all.” He said encouragingly, you look down at him and give a small smile.  
The two of you have been friends for almost as long as you and Roxy, when you both turned fourteen you became an item. It didn’t take very long to for ether of you to see that the relationship wasn’t working and really wasn’t healthy for ether of you. You both chose to end it and instead continue your friendship, which has continued to grow ever since.  
“No, I wouldn’t want to let them down any more than I already have. I’m the last of the royal bloodline after all, what would they do if they realised that I wouldn’t continue it? They would probably wish they saved Da-” before you could even finish Jake's hand was covering your mouth.

“No. Shush. Don’t talk like that.” He huffed as he papped and petted your head until you rolled your eyes, feeling slightly better than you just were.  
“You think too much, Dirk. I’m certain that staying the same old place doesn’t help you move on from the past.” He sighed lightly, removing his hand from your mouth and holding onto your hand instead. “What you need is a change of scenery my good friend.” He smiled up at you happily. 

You took a second to think about it, a change of scenery would be just what you needed, after all you haven’t left the kingdom of Hearts in over ten years, but there was just one big problem with Jake's idea.  
“Come on Jake, you know that the guards would never let me leave for no good reason. It took me two weeks to convince them to let me go to the royal meeting and even then they changed the location of the meeting to the Hearts kingdom so that I didn’t have to leave. It’s a lost cause.” You frown and give Jake's hand a small squeeze.

The dark skinned boy was silent for a number of minutes as the thought, muting quietly to himself “...What if we... no... How about... that wouldn’t work ether... we could just... no, bad idea...hmmm... Gosh darn...”

“Can we just try it out, Dirk? Could we just ask them nicely? There’s never any harm in trying.” The raven haired boy finally said with a small smile on his lips.  
“I guess we could.” You answer as Jake smile brightens. 

“I’m feeling very hopeful!” Jake chuckled and stood up, holding his hand out to you “Let’s hope for a wonderful adventure!”  
You take his hand and pull yourself up “Here’s to hoping.”


	2. Out On The Blue Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still Dirks POV  
> (But will switch between Dirk and Dave's at some point)

You are still Dirk Strider and you are currently waiting by the docks, with Jake, as a handful of guards prepare one of the less conspicuous but still grand looking ships for your adventure. You honestly can’t believe that this is really happening, you haven’t once left the kingdom of Hearts since the accident and you can hardly stop the small smile that is stuck to your face. 

 

\--- The Day Before ---  
After a good few hours of you and Jake trying to argue with the guards and convince them to let you leave the kingdom for a well deserved break, the conversation ended just how you had imagined it would.

In a big fat no.

It was then that Jake took a breath and almost seemed to glow with hopefulness. No more than a second later your loyal Rogue of Hearts walked into the room, wanting to know what all the commotion was about. After hearing the story she had convinced your guards to change their mind.  
The second the guards agreed to let you go, you had sprung out of the room with Jake in tow and ran right to your own to begin packing. Throwing everything and anything you thought you needed into a large bag with Jake helping toss items in.  
You’ll have to remember to thank her again when you get back from your trip. 

\---

 

You happily fill your lungs with the salty sea air and your smile widens, Jake laughs softly at your excitement and you elbow him.  
“Boys, boys! Please no party without me!” Roxy’s voice shouted from behind, you only had a second to try and turn to face her before she tackled the two of you to the ground with a giant suprise hug. 

“Whats up Di Stri? Jakie?” Roxy giggled as she lay over the top of you before getting up and dusting her knee high pink dress off, sitting up you chuckled softly “Just waiting,”  
“Glad you managed to make it Roxy dear; we were becoming a little anxious that you wouldn’t make it in time.” Jake smile sweetly and rose to his feet at the same time as you did. Roxy cracked a smile “Jeez guys I wouldn’t miss this for the world, it’s not every day that the Prince can leave his castle! I bought you some awesome doodads to help disguise you on our adventure!” She exclaimed as he opened her satchel to retrieve them. You raise an eyebrow but a smile pulled at your lips at your friends love. Jake had already lent you some clothes to blend in, you were wearing some plain black pants and a tight white collared shirt. 

Roxy pulls out a grey hat to hide most of your naturally spiky hair and a pair of very cool looking pointed shades that must have cost more than a pretty penny, but then again Roxy seemed to be able to pull things from out of thin air sometimes so maybe she just created them.

After completing the outfit you pull a few poses for your friends who laughed and wolf whistle at you, demanding more poses. It didn’t take very long for the ship to be fully stocked and for the three friends to board the vessel and watch the kingdom of Hearts fade into the distance.  
The entire day on board the ship was spent in celebration, exploring the rooms and gazing at the horizon as the three of them watched the setting sun. When the sky started to darken after the orange and red had removed its self from view, Roxy excused herself to her chambers to rest.  
“Such a beautiful night, too bad that wind could chill you to the bone.” Jake mumbled with a small shiver as he hugged himself closer. The two of you had briefly gone back below to retrieve warm coats before coming back out on deck to watch the churning waves and cloudy skies. “You’re just cold because you're still wearing shorts.” You roll your eyes and smile at him as he pouts and opens his mouth to give would have most likely been a snarky comment, but you would never know what he was about to say because there came a shout from the opposite end of the ship.

“TWO PEOPLE OVERBOARD! SHIPWRAKED BODIES OFF THE STARBOARD BOW! QUICK BRING THEM ABORD!” 

You and Jake share a look before sprinting towards all of the commotion, by the time you reach the starboard bow where the shouting was coming from you could see a number of guards surrounding two shivering and soaked to the bone teenagers, most likely no older than sixteen. They seemed to be siblings; the sister hugged the thinner and possibly younger brother who might have some vision problems, going from the fact that the boy was wearing rather dark shades that completely covered half of his face. Both of them where about four inches smaller than you and about an inch or two smaller than Jake.

“Get some blankets and warm clothes quickly! Have someone light the fire in the lounge!” You command your guards, wanting to make sure that the two teens didn’t freeze to death on your ship. The guards swiftly moved to do as they were told and Jake ran over to support the shivering girl. You moved to stand on the boy’s side and began coxing them inside and out of the bitter night air. After no more than two steps towards the entrance the trembling boy stumbled and slipped from his sister’s grip.  
You caught him effortlessly and lifted him up into your arms to carry his soaked form inside. Not caring that your clothes where getting damn, you carried him into the ship, noticing the way his body snuggled closer to your own.

A fire was lit as commanded and there where blankets set aside for the siblings when the four of you entered one of the many rooms on the ship. Jake wrapped the young girl in one of the blankets and you grabbed one to put around the boy who was still in your arms. You gently set him down by the fire so that he was sitting next to his sister once more, you tried to ignore the part of your brain that begged you to scoop up the boy once more and smother him for the rest of your life. 

“Are you both alright?” Jake asked them softly, snapping you from your strange mind. They nod. “Yes, we-e are fine. T-thank you-u.” The girl stuttered out as she scooted closer to the fire to try and warm herself.  
“What happened?” You ask her, finding it hard to pull your eyes away from the trembling boy. “T-the ship w-we were on sank. We w-were lucky to s-survive.” She spoke softly and took her brothers hands, warming them with friction.  
“That sounds ghastly, you poor things.” Jake mumbled softly, frowning at the thought of what the two had been through, how they must have struggled to survive. “You can both stay in this room; we’ll have the guards drop off some clothes for you at the door. Feel free to come and get us in time." He continued, standing up and taking a few steps towards the exit. He stopped and turned back to you “...Dirk? Let’s get going.”  
You blinked and looked back over at him; you had spaced out and had been staring at that boy again. There was just something about him. You just couldn’t put your finger on it. “Uh. Right, sorry. Get some rest.” You nodded goodnight to them and left the room with Jake.

“What was that all about?” He asked when the room was out of ear shot.

“I don’t know... I think I’m going to lie down, it might help me get my thoughts straight.” You mumbled back, removing your shades as you walked to rub your eyes.


	3. The Orange Setting Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave's POV~!!

Your name is Dave...

What? You thought that you would have some cool last name? Well guess again, you are just Dave, just a guy.  
In fact I hear by name you the Dave of guy!

But in all serious, you don’t have a last name. Well I guess you do but you are unable to remember, the only things that you can remember from the past is that your name is Dave and you love the colour orange.

Your friend Rose said that you have amnesia but it no longer bothers you as much as it once did. You’ve had no memories for the past ten years so you’ve just gotten use to it.  
You don’t care about whom you might have been or what you have forgotten anymore because you have made lots of new memories with all of your friends.  
You have never been happier.

But no matter how happy you feel there will always be an empty feeling in your heart, like you are missing your other half. It’s something that never goes away, a feeling that has never faded. The dull pain use to keep you up at night but now it barely has a thought it the back of your mind. After all how can you been sad over something you have lost when you can’t even remember having something in the first place.

The ocean breeze ruffles your white blonde hair slightly as you look out at the horizon from your perch on the crow’s nest. You sit idly on the railings watching the orange hues play across the water from the setting sun.  
“I had a feeling that you would be sat up here.” Rose’s soft voice floated in from behind. You don’t flinch and don’t even acknowledge her presents enough to greet her, not that she would take offence. She would do the same thing to you after all.  
“What’s up Rose?” You ask after a few moments of silence, still gazing out to sea, your shades protecting your sensitive eyes from the glare.  
“Vriska has predicted that we will be getting very lucky tonight. I believe that we will be crossing paths with a large ship that holds quite a bounty.” She spoke factually as she moved to stand at your side, hands resting on the railing that was also holding your plush rump. You glanced at her once the sun had set and orange slipped from the sea and sky. Red shaded eyes met deep purple.

“Poor guys, they have no idea that their shit is about to be flipped and their sweet loot absconded with.” You shake your head with fake pity. This gets a small amused chuckle from your oldest friend.  
You have known Rose for as long as you can remember. This admittedly is not very long. But ten years ago when you woke up out at sea you can clearly remember her face hovering above your own.

“So do you guys need me for anything? I mean you must want me for something or do you just like spending time with me, dear Rose.” You tease playfully and finally give her your full attention.  
“What can I say Dave, your presence is truly intoxicating.” She smirked. “It’s true, I’m irresistible.” You smirk back as she rolls her eyes playfully.  
“Indeed, well it seems that you and I have been chosen as the bait tonight. It’s a good thing that you are irresistible.” She prods at your side as you groan in annoyance. Being bait on missions where just as much of a bore as they were dangerous. Which is very much so.

The whole crew was suppose to take turns being the bait, the exceptions being Captain Vriska, John, both Vantas’, Aradia and Mituna.  
About eight times out of ten the bait ended up being you and Rose, this was because of three main reasons:  
1\. The two of you look similar enough to be siblings and therefore fewer questions would be raise by the ships that “rescue” them. It is also safer to have a partner with you when you are playing bait.  
2\. Because despite being nearly eighteen years of age the two of you are still some of the smallest members of the crew, and therefore are seen as less of a threat to the pray.  
3\. The main reason why you and Rose are sent out as bait so much is because the two of you have never ever lost.

“Let’s get this over with then.” You sigh in defeat. 

 

\--

 

The plan is set into motion at 12:35:05 AM. You and Rose are dressed in rags from some random kingdom and are placed on a large slab of drift wood before being placed into the water, to create the illusion that you had both been shipwrecked.  
At 01:09:34 AM the ship has successfully ascended into the sky, thanks to John and Sollux, and is hidden from sight in the clouds, ready to pounce on its pray.

At 01:30:00 AM you and Rose dunk yourselves into the freezing water, to make everything seem more realistic and sprawl out across the drift wood as if you have been floating aimlessly for quite some time.

At 01:45:45 AM the pray comes into view, you sneak a peek and let out a low whistle in appreciation for it was indeed a very fine ship.  
The crew onboard spotted the two of you three minutes later. By this time both of you where freezing cold and could no longer control the tremors that wreck though your bodies.

“TWO PEOPLE OVERBOARD! SHIPWRAKED BODIES OFF THE STARBOARD BOW! QUICK BRING THEM ABORD!” 

It took them less than a minute for them to haul your small and shivering bodies onto the deck. You took notice of the way they dressed, looked and acted. It seemed that they were very well trained and armed guards.  
Vriska was right, you would be getting lucky tonight. They must be protecting some pretty important booty.  
Rose clutches you to her chest as the two of you shivered on the deck of the ship, surrounded by armed guards. You shivered more than her.  
God you hate being bait. You were by far the slimmest member of the crew, so it wasn’t very hard to lower your body temperature especially when you have little to no body fat.

The sound of feet hitting the wooden deck caused you and Rose to look towards the sound; there were two guys about your own age running over to inspect the situation. The shorter of the two had black hair, dark skin and... Was he wearing shorts? What idiot wears shorts at night? In the middle of the ocean?!  
The taller, less insane one, had spiky blonde hair (About the same shade as your own you believe) that poked out from under a grey cap and he was pretty easy on the eyes if you do say so yourself. He was sporting a pretty cool pair of pointed shades that he was probably wearing for decoration unlike you who wore yours because sunlight was a bitch.  
The cool blonde guy ordered the guards to fetch you both some clothes so you wouldn’t die. You watched the guards scamper off, eager to please the blonde guy.  
You quickly came to the conclusion that he must be some rich noble’s kid since the guards rushed to follow his orders.

The freak in shorts races to Roses side to help balance her. What a gentle man. Likewise the tall blonde moved to your side and they both started leading you inside. Rose gives you a light nudge and you resist the urge to sigh.

01:57:03 AM time for the second phase of the plan to begin. 

You give a fake stumble and fall from Roses arms. In less than a second you have been swept off your feet and are currently bridle style in the arms of Mr Cool Rich and Handsome. You lean into him, partly because that was part of the plan to see whether they are armed and partly because you are fuckin’ freezing your plush rump off and he is so very warm.  
If your body wasn’t so cold and if your mind wasn’t filled with the step by step motions of the plan you would have noticed that, that part of you that was always empty. The part that screamed constantly for something the mind had long forgotten was finally silenced.

Your heart was whole again.

He was kind enough to carry you all the way inside. You where sure that there must have been a wet patch the same shape as your body, indented into his nice warm chest. The room that they took you too thankfully had a lit fire and a bundle of blankets where placed not too far away.  
The heat hit both you and Rose instantly when you entered. The boy in the shorts led Rose to the fire and quickly ran to get one of the thick blankets for her and wrapped it around her.

The boy who was carrying you grabbed one, wrapping it almost lovingly around you, like one would their child, before he set you down on the wooden floor, close to the fire.  
The second he let go of you ice clawed its way back into your heart.  
You shiver from the cold inside and out.   
“Are you both alright?” The boy in shorts asked softly, it was almost sad to take things from such kind people... 

Almost.

You both nod your heads slightly, not trusting your voice just yet so Rose spoke up. “Yes, we-e are fine. T-thank you-u.” She stuttered out as she moved closer to the fire to warm herself and hopefully rid her of the dreaded stutter.   
“What happened?” The tall blonde spoke, just the sound of his voice calmed your very soul. You trembled softly, feeling his gaze on you although he was addressing Rose.   
“T-the ship w-we were on sank. We w-were lucky to s-survive.” She said softly, taking your hands when she saw them trembling and beginning to rub them soothingly.  
“That sounds ghastly, you poor things.” The boy in shorts mumbled “You can both stay in this room; we’ll have the guards drop off some clothes for you at the door. Feel free to come and get us in time.” He continued speaking kindly, about to leave you both so that you can rest and recover. You heard him move towards the door only to stop. You turned to see what the problem was only to find the blonde hadn’t moved from his spot and was continuing to stare you down with an expression that you couldn’t quite place. It was something between confusion and love.

“...Dirk? Let’s get going.”

“Uh. Right, sorry. Get some rest.” He whispered before leaving with the boy in shorts.

“Dave... Dave? Are you alright?” Rose asked after a few minutes, the worry was clear in her voice and not without cause since you have been frozen in place ever since the blonde hair boys name was spoken. You where repeating his name over and over again.

‘Dirk. Dirk. Dirk. Dirk. Dirk. Dirk. Dirk.’ 

“...I’m fine. Sorry, I don’t know what came over me. Let’s get faze three started.” You mumbled and shook your head softly.

“Let’s.”


	4. Pools of red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flaaaassssshhhbaaaaaccckkkk~!   
> *Flashback montage music*
> 
> Dirk's POV

Your name is Dirk Strider; you are roughly eight and a half years old. 

Your father, the king of hearts, had taken you and your twin brother on a trip to the kingdom of Void. You met a very nice young girl on the palace grounds during your stay, named Roxy. The three of you spent most of your holiday playing together while your father attended to some business.

You where currently sat in a carriage on your way back home to the kingdom. Your father was sat opposite you and was shuffling through some work related papers. To take a minute to consider how horrible it must be to run a kingdom, how much work and stress must be involved. You are just glad that you will have Dave to run the kingdom with you and only after your father finally lets go of his vice like grip on the throne. 

Dave, your twin, was currently fast asleep at your side, his head resting on your shoulder, his identical white blonde hair tickling your neck softly. You had one arm wrapped around him as you looked out of one of the windows. You watched the horses that trotted next to the carriage, ridden by the guards that where set with the task of making sure that your family made it back to the kingdom of hearts safely. You don’t know why everyone always insisted that you get escorted back home. You understand that you are royal family but surely you don’t need this much protection. 

Nothing ever happens to your family.

The carriage jolts slightly, Dave’s eyes fluttered open and he gave a small yawn as he sat up leaving your side and shoulder cold. At the lack of warmth you turn your back on the world outside and turn to see your twin rubbing the sleep out of his eyes tiredly.

“Good morning sleeping beauty.” You tease with a bright smile. Red meets orange as your brother looks over at you with his ruby eyes. He playfully punched your shoulder before relaxing against it once more “Shush Dirk, it’s too early.” He grumbles, closing his eyes once more. It was your turn to roll your eyes “Dave, it’s nearly noon.”  
He just whines and lies down, his head moving from your shoulder to resting in your lap. You give a sigh at his slothfulness but let him. You run your fingers soothingly through his hair as his red eyes close again. Dave could be so lazy sometimes, but you understand that the sun hurts his eyes and he prefers to sleep through the brightest hours of the day, always had.

Your attention is brought back to the window, watching the horses as you continue running your fingers through Dave’s hair. Your amber gaze caught sight of a number of black horses with hooded riders, moving in between the trees and coming quickly closer to the carriage. You saw the shining tip of an arrow, your eyes widened and you ducked as quickly as you could, covering Dave’s head in your lap as you shouted “AMBUSH!!!” 

The arrow shot through the air, shattering the glass of the window you had been looking out of a second ago and burying itself into your father’s chest. He spluttered, coughed and hunched forward but did not move after that. The horses reared up on their hind legs and started running, pulling the carriage faster along the winding dirt road. The sounds of battle being left somewhat behind. 

Dave jolted awake at your shout and sat up quickly, looking around with wide panicked eyes. He saw your father and choked on a sob, eyes tearing up. You hugged him tightly for a moment, holding him to your chest so that he didn’t have to see the bloody horror before you. You two wanted to morn your father or at least go into shock about it but someone needed to be smart right now. He still had Dave to protect. 

To took a deep breath to hold back the sob in your throat and to stop the small tremble in your hands. Your fingers ran soothingly through his hair once more, trying to comfort him, the sound of hooves closing in from behind could be heard as the horses in front continued pulling the carriage quickly forwards. You let go of Dave and moved to look out of the window to see whether your pursuers where friend or foe. Just as you stick your head out of the window two bodies crashed onto the carriage roof. Both of you yelped and you pulled yourself back inside knowing that the men on the roof where anything but friendly.   
The blades the highwaymen wheeled started to slice through the carriage ceiling. Before you could stop, both you and Dave let out a small scream of fear and suprise. The second that the sound had left your lips you knew that you had given up your location to the men on the roof.  
You quickly pushed Dave backwards as you threw yourself forwards in the same motion, narrowly avoiding the blades that shot down directly above the place you and your brother had just been sitting.

You try not to think about what would have happened if you hadn’t acted quickly enough. If Dave had been stabbed.

The backdoor of the carriage was ripped open by a large bulky man who carefully jumped inside, the carriage still picking up speed. The man landed right next to Dave, who was picking himself up off the floor. As Dave looked up at the man towering over him you began to rush forward. Fearing for your twin.

It was if time was playing in slow motion, like you where watching the ending of a play that you always saw coming, right from the very start. You couldn’t do anything to change what was going to happen, you couldn’t make your body move fast enough.  
You watched Dave’s red eyes widen in horror, his mouth opened as if to scream again. But before any sound could leave his mouth the man drew his blade and sliced it across his chest.

No less than a second later you collided into the man, knocking him off balance just enough so that he stumbled backwards and fell out of the speeding carriage. You stumbled and gripped the side of the carriage to keep from falling out with him. You dropped to Dave’s side immediately, looking down at the gash that went diagonally from his heart to his hip.

“DAVE?! DAVE! OPEN YOUR EYES! PLEASE... OH GOD.” You shouted, beginning to panic. You touch his face softly, tears welling up in his eyes.  
What could you do? What were you supposed to do with types of wounds? You don’t know you have no medical knowledge; you are eight years old for god’s sake! No one prepared you for this!!

Dave’s eyes opened slightly and squinted up at you as the blood slowly began to soak into the rich fabric of his shirt and make its way towards the floor. “D-d... ir-rk?” he whimpered quietly, you smiled down at him and bit back a sob of relief as tears dripped down your cheeks onto his. “He-ey s-sleeping beau-uty.”

You pet his hair softly, trying to sit him up in your arms; he flinches as he’s moved but leans into your chest. “-urts.” He choked out, one hand weakly clutching your shirt. “I know... its o-okay, you’re go-gonna be okay-y.” You sniff; you hug him close, his body fitting perfectly in his arms.

\----

You shot up in bed with a gasp, all but screaming “It’s him!”

Your two friends who had been idly chatting in your cabin as you slept jumped in surprise at your sudden awakening. “Dirk!” they exclaimed and came to your side. You shaking hand rested on your damp forehead as you eyes stared widely at them in disbelief, joy and irritation for not noticing sooner. “Who’s who?” Roxy asked confused.

“That boy... its him... its Dave.”


	5. Into the purple realm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter~!   
> I wont be posting another one for awhile though :/

You are now Dave.

And its time to begin the third phase of the plan.   
You and Rose quickly change into the not soaking wet clothes that the people on the ship had provided for you. You couldn’t even bring yourself to care how stupidly pink they were only glad that they were dry and so very soft. Seriously it’s as if someone made them out of a cloud sheep that some divine god sent down and bestowed it upon man for not completely screwing shit up.

“Dave. You’re rambling again.” Rose spoke softly with a teasing smile curling on her lips. You roll your eyes behind your shades, she can’t see them but you know that she knows you are rolling them. “I wasn’t even speaking out loud. What are you a mind reader now too?”   
“Among other thing,” she smiled. You moved and sat crossed legged on the floor before her and she knelt down in front of you.

All part of the plan.

“I don’t believe that you are aware but when you begin one of your inner monologue ramblings your face takes on quite the innocent daydreaming expression.” She chuckled. You could have gotten into a rather long and tiresome debate about how you have NO SUCH EXPRESSION! But you have work to do.

She places one of her hands on your throat and tipped your head back until you were gazing up at the ceiling. She then proceeded to remove your shades and places the thumb of her free hand in the space between your eyebrows, to open your minds eye.

Red eyes snapped closed instantly and reopened just as quickly in the slightly purple tinted realm known as the dreamscape. With yours and Roses power combined you are able to enter an intersecting dimensional space that exists outside of time, which you have both named the ‘Dreamscape’. You use this technique often when you are both aboard ships because it allows you to scope out the rooms, find where treasure is hidden and also map out where the enemies are on the ship. It’s so much better than running around blind on a ship full of potential enemies, it also makes your job a little easier as you then know where to go to get the treasure and don’t have to waste time looking for it like idiots. 

And you can do this all without moving your physical body. 

You stand and look back at the ghostly figures of Rose and yourself frozen in glitchy hologram time space. Turning your back on... well... you. You advance, searching the ship for treasure and dangers. 

After searching at least half of the ship you come to the conclusion that this vessel has an extreme lack of wealth. From the way it looked and the amount of guards on board you and your friends had assumed you would find a great bounty of wealth but each room you look in just keeps getting weirder.  
One room was filled with firearms and you mean FILLED with firearms. If you had opened this door in real life then you would have been killed by guns in the lamest way possible. Getting squished by a bunch of tacky fire arms was not on your agenda.  
Another had around twenty meow-beast... Cats! You mean cats. Damn you for being so impressionable.

You’re rambling again. Long story short the people aboard this ship must be hiding something, you don’t have a huge ship, and a dozen or so fancy guards for no reason.

The question is, if they are not here it protect wealth then what are they protecting?

You turn into another corridor when you see that the door at the end was guarded by two very stern looking men, clad head to toe in armour, one half of your brain is wondering if they are scared of being on the ship with so much metal, cause if for some reason this ship sank they would sink so fast old father time would look down and think ‘Aw shit what happened? I blinked!’ 

The other half of your brain is reminding you that you are rambling again. God you have a problem.  
You walk past the transparent guards and into the room. ‘Finally’ you thought as you looked at the room that contained mounds of treasure and golf, not as much as you would have liked from such a big vessel but hey beggars can’t be choosers. You can your friends will take what you can get.

You begin making your way back to the room that holds your physical body; about time too your body clock is telling you that you’ve been searching the large ship for the most part of three hours. You sat down in the same position as your body is in and closed your eyes.

Red eyes fluttered open, as if you had only blinked. The whole situation had lasted less than a second in the physical world.   
“Did you find out which room the treasure is placed in?” Rose asked quietly as she removed her thumb and ran her hand soothingly through your drying hair. You nod slightly and took a couple of deep breaths, brow creased in irritation. Entering and returning from the dreamscape can really disorientate a guy; it places so much pressure on the mind that not many people can accomplish it.

“...T-there’s not as much as we thought but it will do.” You mumble after you have composed yourself. Rose leans back and quirks her brow in question “Are you sure? With the number of guards and the size of the ship I could have sworn...” she looked puzzled and slightly vexed, Rose was not one who liked being in the dark.   
“Never mind, let’s not go into the great mystery that is the disappearing slash no-existent gold. Maybe some fat old aristocrat wanted only the best for their beloved son.” You wave a hand to dismiss the mystery; your head was hurting enough as it was you didn’t need the nagging an unsolvable mystery would rain down upon your poor brain.   
Rose nodded softly “I suppose I’ll drop the topic for now.” She stood, pulling you up with her “I have a plan on how we can get the treasure out of the room. Although it won’t be discreet.” She smirked, you mirrored the expression, mischief lighting your eyes before you covered them with your shades.

“We’re doing this. We’re making this happen.”

 

~~  
You are once again Dirk Strider.

“I’m telling you, it’s Dave. I don’t know how but it’s him, I can feel it.” You get out of your bed and stare at your friends confused but trusting faces.   
“... Not to be a stick in the mud old chum but Dave... Dave drowned. Didn’t he?” Jake asked, scratching the back of his neck nervously. You don’t let your mind wander to the past “I don’t know how he’s alive but he is. Its him.” You say desperately. 

Roxy takes your hand and squeezes it softly “We trust you Dirky but we just don’t wanna see you hurt if it isn’t true.” She spoke gently. You can understand them; you know that they don’t want you to fall back into the darkness after the last few happy years.  
“Its him.” You mumble, squeezing her hand back. “...What about his eyes? You boy was wearing shades, if you saw his eyes you could know for sure.” Jake suggested and you smiled at the two them. 

“Let’s go n-”

Roxy was cut off by the sound of a loud explosion. And then shouts from the crew members. 

“JIMMINY CRICKET!” Jake yelped in surprise.

“What was that?!” Roxy asked panicked, you didn’t stick around to answer her already running to the deck and the source of the explosion. Only one thought on your mind.

‘DAVE!’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dreamscape is kinda like derse with the kids dream selves, but you can spend any amount of time there and still come back to the moment you left. Not many people can handle the mental strain because when you come back to your physical body without losing any time your brain still has the memory of the time spent in the dreamscape.   
> Hope this helps :3


	6. And the world turned Black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its been a pretty long time since I last updated, sorry ;^;  
> I've been busy, finishing College and moving into University. It might be a while before I update again since I have to get use to my new uni courses but I will continue this story :3
> 
> I hope everyone likes it so far and questions, comments and criticism are welcome~ <3!!!

You continue to be Dirk Strider.

On your way to the deck of the ship, with your friends in hot pursuit there was another violent explosion that rocked the timbers of the ship and nearly caused you to face plant the floor if it wasn’t for Jake pulling you back by the fabric of your shirt. 

Once the three of you collected your bearing you started running again. You burst out onto the deck just ahead of Roxy and Jake. 

You must be dreaming because what you were seeing didn’t make any logical sense.

Roughly eight meters above and to the left of the deck was a sleek black ship, floating in the air. The ship all but melted into the darkening clouds, only illuminated by the silver moon that shone through the cracks in an otherwise clouded sky. A silky black flag rippled unnervingly gently in the sudden harsh winds. On the flag was a picture of skull and crossbones.

Pirates. 

The sharp white of the skull and crossbones contrasting harshly against the silky blackness of the flag. The only thing that differed from the generic skull and crossbones flag was the fact that the skull on this flag had eight eyes like a spider. 

The floating ship was moving steadily across the sky so that it would very soon be overhead. The sound of a fight on the lower deck took your attention away from the strange levitating vessel. On the main deck, just below the one that the three of you where currently standing on, was a large hole that led directly into the treasure room but it wasn’t the still smoking hole that caught your eye. No. It was the boy in pink who was fighting against a handful of guards, keeping them away from the hole.

The boy was... correction, Dave was fighting with a broken sword but still managing to keep up with the guards, thrusting and guarding at just the right moments to ensure that the small group of guards couldn’t get past him.

Your heart was hammering painfully against your ribcage as you watched the battle unfold before you. Your body must have acted on its own because one second you are watch Dave fight a hand full of trained guards from a balcony on the deck and the next you are springing over the banister and landing on the main deck a good few feet below. Upon landing you bend your knees and rolled to avoid injury, before running towards the fray. The concerned shouts from Roxy and Jake were soon drowned out by the clash of steel.  
You curse your guards for making you take such a large ship, even though you are running flat out towards the battle you don’t seem to be getting there as quickly as you wanted too.

An inhuman roar echoed across the stormy seas and with the crash of water a monster rose from the deep. Its large oily black tentacles wrapped around the ships main mast and used the ship to help its ascension to the world above the ocean. The monster was hideous with its slick black skin, piercing yellow eyes filled with malice. The monster opened its whirlpool like mouth, showing swirling sets of razor sharp teeth. The stench of rotting wood and flesh washed over the ship, the smell a clear indication of other vessels and their inhabitancies that the creature had devoured.

It was only through sheer power of will that you didn’t freeze in fear at the monstrosity before you. You tried not to think about the sea creature that was descending on your ship or the fact that the pirate ship was now directly above you and instead, draw all of your attention to where Dave was still fighting the few guards who were not trying to attack the monster or had frozen in fear.

The giant creature let out an ear piercing, disorientating shrike that was so loud you momentarily lost your balance. You stumbled just as the monster lashed out with its oily black tentacles, plucking solders from the deck and tossing them into the void that was its mouth. One of the many tentacles was heading for you and in your disorientation there was no way for you to avoid the attack. However before the horrid appendage could reach you, the barbed tip that would have grabbed you and fed you to the beast exploded with the sound of a gunshot. 

You dropped to the ground and rolled under and away from the now disfigured tentacles as it withered and snapped to and throw. You scooped up a discarded sword before getting to your feet; you spare a quick glance in Jakes direction since you know that he was the one who saved you. Although it seemed that your friends where now quite busy with their own problem as the pirates from the hovering ship where starting to invade. You send them your luck before quickly turning your attention back to Dave.  
You are closer to him now; many of the guards had stopped fighting him and had started fighting the monster instead as it seemed intent on sinking our ship and eating its inhabitancies. You ran towards him, his name already half way past your lips “Da-!” Dave spun around on the balls of his feet, the second you had advanced, and lunged at you aiming for your temple with the hilt of his broken sword, clearly aiming to knock you out in one blow.

You angled the katana you picked up from the deck of the ship and blocked his attack as quickly as he had delivered it. He recoiled back clearly having mistook you for someone who didn’t have fast reflexes or the knowledge of sword to sword combat. It was a split second before he attacked again this time with his blade, no longer going easy on you but heading for the kill. 

The two of you where locked in a seemingly never ending battle of wills. Dave attacking you constantly and you defending yourself, you really didn’t want to hurt Dave after all. The harmonious clash of steel between your swords was drowning out the surrounding world. You continued defending against Dave’s attacks, that where coming faster after every strike, and waited for the perfect moment to strike. 

It was a couple attacks later that such a perfect moment arose; Dave lunged at you once more only this time instead of blocking you flash stepped next to him. Flash stepping was a skill that too your currently knowledge only you possessed, it was the ability to move oneself so fast that you seemed to disappear from one place and reappear in another.  
You disarmed Dave by slamming the back of your blade onto his wrist, with enough force to make him drop his blade but hopefully not do any permanent damage aside from a large bruise. You knew that he would most likely recover from the attack quickly so you took the second on surprise and pain that Dave was currently feeling and with one well placed hand on his shoulder, knocked him to the floor.

Dave’s shades flew across the deck of the ship as you pinned him to the deck, one hand still on his shoulder, the other keeping the back of your katana to his throat as one knee helped pin his chest down, just to ensure that he didn’t run away for try to fight you again. You looked down at his now uncovered face and waited for those pale eyelids to open themselves so that your heart could finally rest in peace.

Your heart was the only think that you could hear, hammering in your ears as his eyes fluttered open.

Orange irises met red. 

Tears that have been held back for years suddenly flowed freely down your cheeks; you pulled back the katana and smiled happily down at confused and conflicted face of your twin brother “D-Dave.”

His beautiful red eyes widened, you opened your mouth to speak again, not entirely sure what you were going to say, not that it mattered as there was a sharp pain in the back of your head.

And the world turned black.


	7. The White Light Was Almost Blinding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which instead of posting what happened next to Dirk I post a flash back~! OuO  
> Enjoy this Dave flashback!

Your name is Dave Strider and you are dying.

You know you are, you can feel it. That creeping coldness spreading throughout your small body as your warm blood soaks through your clothes and even the body heat from your brother, who is cling to you every so tightly is slowly getting duller. 

“.....”

“... -AVE! ...”

“..-EN YOUR EYES! P- ...”

Someone is trying to talk to you... It sounds like they are talking through a thick blanket, you can hardly hear them. Droplets fall on your cheek.  
Huh... that’s weird, you don’t remember being outside... although everything in your mind is hazy... where you outside? Is it raining?

You force your heavy eyelids to open and squint out at the dimming world before, the face of your twin comes into a hazy focus, tears pouring down his face.  
“D-d...ir-rk?” you managed to whimper out, each breath sending clawing flames through your exhausted body. The hazy image of your brother gave a shaky smile and stroked your hair softly “He-ey s-sleeping beau-uty.” 

He tries to manoeuvre you so that you are sitting up but the action sends pain flashing through your body like you had been struck by lightning, despite the pain your weary body was only able to flinch to indicate its discomfort. “-urts.” You choke out as you lean into his dimming warmth, lifting one shaking hand to grasp weakly at Dirks shirt to ensure he was still there even as his warm and touch was starting to seem further and further away. 

“I know... its o-okay. You’re go-gonna be okay-y.” He sobs softly, hugging you closer. It’s getting harder and harder to keep your eyes open. Light had always seemed so bright too you but why was it fading so quickly now?

You could hear distant shouts that sounded more like far away whispers to you but you knew they must have been shouts because Dirk had heard them too. You followed his gaze slowly until your head was now in the direction of the open back doors, blurry figures on blurry horses were franticly heading towards the still racing carriage.

“-F!”

“-IFF!”

They were shouting the same thing over and over but you could no longer hear them, it was like trying to talk to someone underwater, their mouths were moving, forming words that your brain couldn’t understand nor your ears hear.  
Dirk moved slightly, sending more dull pain throbbing through your body. He lay you down as gently as he could, letting your back rest against the side of the carriage. He stood up and spoke to you but you could only see his mouth move. You watch him go and look out of the front window of the carriage, the one that overlooked the horses and the road ahead. 

Your brother jumped back from the window and raced to your side, speaking again. Louder this time in his panic, although you could only make out a few of his words and even then it was choppy. “-VE! C-... –ON! IT’S A-....! -CLIFF-! WE HAV- -GO!” You couldn’t understand his panic; well you couldn’t really understand anything at the moment. Why was he worrying? There was no need to worry, the lights were going out and the veil of darkness was settling in.

No panic... Only rest now...

He tried to move you but the carriage jolted, sending you both flying. Dirk hand landed near the open doors, while you hand landed a bit further away, closer to the seats. Now on your side, gazing at Dirk and past the open doors, pain shot through your darkening drowsy bliss and the panic set in along with Dirks words.

A cliff? The carriage was going to go over a cliff!’

You were both going to die if you didn’t get off the runaway carriage. Dirk had gotten up on his hands and knees and dash in your direction, even with your dulling eyes you could see clear desperation on his face.

However you could also see the ominous hand reaching into the carriage and grabbing your twin by the collar of his shirt. You wanted to shout out, to move. To do something!  
But you just lay lifeless on your side and watch the scene unfold, your body no longer obeying your conscious demands. The hand grabbed your brother and yanked him backwards, out of the carriage. He screamed for you and stretched his arm out to reach you as he was removed from the carriage.

The person who had taken him skidded to a halt on his horse, holding a kicking, screaming Dirk as tightly as he could.

No less than a handful of seconds later the scenery out of the open doors changed to that of the stunning bright blue sky as a slight feeling of weightlessness descended on your very being.

You were falling.

The heavy doors of the carriage that had once shown you the bright sky swung shut, encasing you in darkness as the shock of rushing cold liquid crashed into you from every angle. The carriage filled with salt water almost instantly and began its sinking plunge into the depths of the ocean at an alarming rate.  
There is a strong burning sensation that rips through your body as you take in the cold water, a frustration from your brain when you realise that you can’t even get your body to struggle for life and then finally an odd calm and tranquil feeling that sweeps over you.

You have never once felt so calm, in your short life.

Although the calmness has spread throughout your body you are sure that tears would spill from your eyes if they could. It just wasn’t fair... Why do you have to die? What have you ever done to deserve this? ... This fate... ?

For a fraction of a second you had wished this fate upon your brother instead. You had wished that he was the one dying and that you had been saved. But you realised that wouldn’t what you would have wanted. You wanted both of you to be happy.

But still what a horrible person you are for thinking such things...

No. Not a horrible person... just someone who wanted to live...

The water was starting to feel warm as your eyes began to close for the last time.

 

You just wanted to live.

 

 

 

**Perhaps I could help you then. ******

The oily voice spoke out as your eyes closed, the words curling themselves into your mind before everything went blank.

Your eyes snap open surprising easy and you jolt up into a sitting position. Your red eyes darting left and right quickly as you cautiously got to your feet, unease settled into your heart as you gazed at the purple and black world around you.

The sky was darker than anything you had ever seen even the darkest shade of black would look like a dull grey in comparison to the inky void above you. The buildings and even the floor that you stood upon were all kinds of purple hues, none of them ever too bright to be considered happy and none of them too dark to be considered spooky.

After spending a few seconds gazing in wonder at your seemingly instantaneous switch in surroundings your eyes widen and hands franticly pat at your chest, checking for the wound that had left you on deaths door.

There was none.

Your pink clothes that you had been wearing, which had been died red in your blood and should be wet from your drowning death were no longer on your body. Instead you sported new cloths the same shades of purple as the strange city before you.

Confusion pricked your mind. What had happened? Where were you? Why were you still alive?

******Have you finished looking around, child?** ** **

The same voice that had spoke a second before your death coiled into your brain. You spun around and stared in expressionless horror at the creature... monster... entity before you. 

The strange being was made of the same inky blackness as the sky in this realm, only with swirling tendrils and vague slightly duller black indications of teeth and eyes. The beast seemed to be simultaneously relaxing upon a purple throne and sloshing about on top of one.  
A low scratching squeak was emitted from the monster. It took you a few moments to realise that the nose was a laugh... a horrid one but still a laugh.

**********Do not fear dear boy. I do not wish to harm you. ******** ** ** **

You gulped, swallowing down your fear to speak “T-then what do you want?!” you shouted, unsure if this creature could even hear you, it didn’t seem to have any ears after all.

**************I want to propose a mutually beneficial agreement. ******** ** ** ** ** **

**************** ** ** ** ** ** **

The monster spoke again, not out loud but into your mind. The words formed in your head softly like swirls of smoke.  
“And what is that?” you asked softer, your posture unconsciously relaxing. Whether it was your own doing or the creature making you relax, you didn’t know but you could feel the tranquillity wash over you once more like you were drowning again but without the underlying panic and fear of death.

******************You will help me break free of this realm and I shall bring you back from the claws of death. ******** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

The way the being spoke made the plan seem so right and secure, like the two of you had already planned this all out together before it was even brought up in conversation. You found yourself nodding without even realising that you had just agreed. All of the monsters visible slightly duller black mouths seemed to twist up into grins.

**********************Good. Now take that sword in front of you. ******** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

The creature instructed, a shining white sword sparkled into existence just a few feet in front of you, hovering in the air at your height. You dreamily stepped towards it and closer to the monster, reaching out with your left hand you grasped the handle of the sword and the blade only glowed brighter, you gazed down at the sword as the creature spoke again, more urgent this time.

**************************Now come closer and cut the chains surrounding me. ******** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

It insisted, as purple chains came into view surrounding the creature. Your brain momentarily wondered as you started walking towards the beast, why there were chains on this creature? And why you hadn’t seen them before? But before any real thought could cement itself in your head the smoky words from the beast floated in, blocking the thoughts from view.

******************************Just cut the ropes and I will save you. That’s what you wanted right, to be able to live? I could give you life again. ******** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

It spoke sweetly as you continued to walk towards the creature. Stopping in front of the throne it was trapped on. “You promise?” you asked in a daze, managing to get the words out before you raised the sword.

**********************************YES! ******** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

The being hissed out the second before you swung your sword down, slicing through the chains holding the creature at bay. The remainder of the chains snapped as the creature erupted in scratchy laughs of glee. 

You dropped the sword and stumbled back, now free of the comforting haze that held you in a trance. You fell on your backside a few feet from the throne and wanted the creature slip from the chair, once the oily blackness of its being touched the ground it changed, swirling and shifting its shape until it became that of a woman.

The woman that the creature had transformed into had the same inky black skin as the sky but hair as light as your own and eyes than shone with purple light. A dress clothed the woman’s body, one a slightly lighter shade of black than her skin, the bottoms of the dress swirled like the tendrils of the monster and like the smoke of its voice.

The woman approached you with a victorious smile “ **Thank you for freeing me from my prison child.** ” She spoke out loud in the same tone and feel as when she had spoken into your mind, you just stared up at her, frozen.

“ **I will keep my promise and save you however I’m afraid your body and mind are quite broken. Even if I bring you back there is no guaranty that you will survive more than a few hours or if you shall ever be the same mentally again.** ”

You got up from where you had been sitting shocked on the floor and looked up at her face and into those glowing eyes as she was now directly in front of you. “I want to live. Please... Help me.” You spoke confidently to her. A tender smile shifted onto her face.

“ **Very well young one, I shall help you. What is your name?** ” She asked as one inky black hand ran across your cheek in a soothing manner.

“Dave.” You whispered, she knelt in front of you so she was now your height, her hand still on your pale cheek, the touch both freezing cold and boiling hot at the same time.

“ **Well then young Dave, I have taken a liking to you. I will help you survive in the world after this as long as you help me survive up there in return.** ” She spoke softly as she moved closer and placed a small kiss on your lips.

Pain shot through your body instantly, you felt like you had been sliced open all over again and were beginning to drown once more. You collapsed and she held you like a mother would her child.

“ **Do not fret little one, I shall always be with you...** ” her words faded out into blackness.

Your eyes fluttered open and the white light was almost blinding, you groan, closing your eyes again and move to cover them only to gasp at the pain that flashed across your chest. You open your eyes slowly this time and squint down at your chest which was covered in bandages, you suddenly felt very confused.  
What had happened? Where were you? ... Who were you!?

A small pale face popped into view. It was a girl around your age or so you guess although you don’t know how old you were just that this girl seemed close to it. She had light blonde hair and deep purple eyes, she smiled kindly down at you and spoke with a soft familiar voice that gave you strange comfort “Hello Dave, I’m glad to see that you have finally woken up. My name is Rose.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had trouble deciding which chapter should come after Dirk's blackout, this one or Dave's POV from Dirk's blackout. As you can see I chose this one though the chapter after this will be Dirk's blackout from Dave's POV.
> 
> Anyway I hope you have enjoyed this chapter and haven't died from the two chapter Dirk cliff hanger I have left you on XD
> 
> I was listening to Candles and clockwork (Alpha version) while I was writing this. It seemed fitting :3  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLRJYDwC0nc


	8. Heart of Gold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally get to find out what happened to Dirk~!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I left that cliff hanger, hanging there for what feels like forever!!!! 
> 
> I was really busy with one thing and then another and another :/  
> I hope this makes up for it :3

You are now a very confused Dave, who has the dead weight of a body on him.

Let’s back track a bit shall we?

You had just found the treasure room in the dreamscape and told Rose of its whereabouts once you got back to the psychical realm.  
“I have a plan on how we can get the treasure out of the room, although it won’t be very discreet.” She smirked, you mirrored the expression, mischief lighting your eyes before you covered them with your trademark shades.

“We’re doing this. We’re making this happen.” You chuckled lightly as you stretched “I was getting kinda bored of all this tiptoeing around anyway.”  
Within five minutes (4 minutes and 43 seconds to be exact) the two of you had made it on to the deck of the ship without being noticed, though the plan wouldn’t stay unnoticed for long. You would have to act quickly and without fault.

You look out across the deck of the ship, still hidden in one of the doorways; you can only see two guards patrolling the side of the ship that held the treasure room below. You nod to Rose and rush out onto the deck as quickly and silently as you could, heading towards the two guards while their backs were turned. In one swift motion you had hit the back of their heads with the hilt of your sword; their bodies fell to the floor in unconscious lumps. You didn’t want to start killing people right away, you tried to avoid killing people in general but a lot of the time it was kill or be killed so you had to strike first or you were as good as dead.

Personally you did not want to die young, no thank you.

Once you and Rose tied up the guards and locked them in one of the rooms below you headed back onto the deck to start the plan. Rose gave you bunch of purple crystals and you placed them in a large circle making sure that the circle was perfect before giving the purple eyed girl a thumps up. Rose flashed him a smile and pulled out her creepy looking Thorns of Oglogoth, she whispers some magic words that sound more like someone speaking backwards than actual words. 

You take a step back from the stone circle just as a jet black bolt of lightning shot from the dark sky and hit the deck of the ship; the sound and feeling of the lightning hitting the deck sent shockwaves through your bones and thumped through your whole body. You shivered and adrenaline coursed through every cell in your body, there wouldn’t be a soul aboard the vessel that hadn’t heard the deafening sound of lightning hitting the ship and it wouldn’t be long before the guard’s swarmed the two of you.

You remove your arm from your face were it had been shielding your eyes from the blinding dark light and allowed your shaded red eyes to land on the perfect circle hole that was no more than a few feet away from you. You walked up to the edge and looked down, gazing into the treasure room. “Rose?” you call down, already hearing the rush of metal clad knights heading for the deck. The blonde haired girl appear out of the darkness of the room and stepped into the light that the hole was letting in “I’m here Dave, don’t worry. I just had to make sure no one could open the door.” She flashed a small smile up at you before he started to sort the gold and valuables, ready to be taken.

You nodded down at her and turned to face the guards that ran up the stairs. Rose had never once been hurt when she preformed her black magic spells but you always like to make sure. What can you say; you have a heart of gold. 

Your only job now was to guard the hole so that none of the guards could interfere with Roses job and you must do your job even if it means dying your hands red to accomplish it. You unsheathe your sword and stare at the advancing guards, you normally tried to use the black of your blade to just knock the guards out but the men charging towards you were too well trained and too well armed to take lightly “Don’t make me kill you!” you call out to the advancing men, hoping that it might change their mind about attacking you and you wouldn’t have to kill so many but they didn’t stop their advancement.

Within seconds (20 seconds) the deck of the ship became a warzone, you tried to keep as many guards away from the hole as you could but you were really only one man and taking on so many at once was a stupid idea even if you were as good as you are.

“ROSE! I’M GONNA NEED BACK UP!” You yell so that she could hear you over the shouts and the clashes of blades and armour. Your broken blade cuts clean through another mans neck, severing his head before blocking attacks from another, bodies were crashing to the ground but more and more guards started to attack you. 

You let out a frustrated groan, just how many guards did this stupid ship have!? A wailing screech tore through the air shaking the wooden beams of the ship. You spare a glance out at the open sea with a small smirk; Rose’s back up had arrived. A horrid monster rose from the depths of the dark sea and towered over the vessel, many men screamed in horror and fear, a few were too shocked to move as the octopus like creature wrapped its tentacles around the ship for grip before screeching again.

You jumped into the air just as a tendril swept the ground at your feet knocking the guards away from both you and the hole. Most of the guards started to attack and fight off the creature that was attacking them and picking them off the ship, sometimes throwing them to the murky depths and sometimes throwing them into the dark abyss of its mouth. A handful of guards continued attacking you and to be far you had to give them all bravery points at how quickly they had gotten over their fears and began attacking again.

You were knocking the guards away quite easily now that you weren’t fighting every person on the ship single handed. Out of the corner of your eye you could see that John and Sollux had started lowering the pirate ship so that it was directly above the other vessel. You slashed the last guard attacking you across the chest and they crumpled to the floor. Just before you let out a sigh of relief, happy that you had finished fighting you felt another presence advancing quickly from behind. You mentally curse your luck and Captain Vriska for most likely stealing it.

You spun around on the balls of your feet ready to attack the person, you hesitated just slightly when you saw whom your advancing attacker was. It was the supposed rich merchant’s son, the one that took you and Rose in without hesitation or too many questions, the one who carried you when you (fake) stumbled. You lunged at him planning on hitting him in the temple with the hilt of your sword since you really didn’t want to kill the boy if you could help it, the very thought of killing the man in front of you turned your stomach although you’re not quite sure why.

When the hilt hit his sword instead of his head you jumped back in shock, he was fast, almost as fast as you and the blonde seemed skilled with the sword even though you didn’t think he would be. You curse your golden heart for trying to spare him instead of taking him seriously as an enemy.

Wow you seem to be cursing a lot tonight, Karkat is definitely having an influence on your poor innocent soul.

Your eyes narrowed behind your shades, innocent? You? Yeah right… 

You steeled your nerves and attacked again, this time doing what you should have done to begin with, going for the kill. You mentally screamed at yourself as the guy, Dirk, blocked your every strike as effortlessly as if the blonde was dancing. You two of you moved around the deck as smoothly as a well practised waltz, you attacking and him defending. You couldn’t wrap your mind around the reason why he wasn’t attacking you back; surely he didn’t believe that he could defend forever. 

You lunged at him again, determined to make this the final blow, when he just disappeared. Your eyes widened in surprise and shock when his presence seemed to magically appear next you, there was nothing you could do. He was going to attack you and you would die because you couldn’t stop yourself moving mid attack. 

Dirks blade swung down and slammed into your wrist, pain shot up your arm and you reflectively released your grip on your weapon. You were left stunned for a moment because of pain and surprise. He used the back of the blade to hurt you instead of just chopping your hand off or even chopping off your head. The air rushed out of your lungs as you are knocked to the floor, eyes clenched shut. You could hear the sound of your shades clattering across the deck, your face feeling suddenly exposed without them. You could feel the dull side of his blade pressed against your throat, a firm hand gripping your shoulder and one knee pinning your chest to the ground. He had you completely immobilised, you decided to open your eyes and accept your death at the hands of the kind man who carried you.

Your eyes opened and gazed up into his eyes that had been watching your face for who knows how long. You sucked in a small breath, his eyes were beautiful.

Orange like the setting sun… 

Like leafs in the autumn…

Like the colour in your dreams.

You stared up at him in confusion as tears welled in his eyes and started to run down his cheek, a few droplets falling onto your own cheeks, with each drop a voice screamed in the back of your mind, begging and pleading with you to recall a memory that you no longer possess.

“D-Dave.” Dirk sobbed happily as he slowly removed the katana from your throat, you stared up at him in confusion, how did this man know you? Your eyes widened as they caught sight of a blue hooded figure flying down quickly just behind Dirk. He opened his mouth to say something you would never hear because in that second the hooded figure landed silently behind him and crashed a large hammer into the back of his skull.

And that ladies, gents and views of other genders! Is how you got into your current situation.

You blink up in confusion at the sky for a second, with the dead weight of Dirk still squishing you. You wonder who he is, how he knew you, what he was going to say, why he hid those beautiful eyes of his and how he got so good at fighting.

“Dave! Oh man, are you okay!?” John shouted worried as he pulled Dirk off you as if he weighed nothing and tossed him aside like the unconscious guy was nothing more than a sack of flour… a handsome sack of flour. You take a deep breath now that nothing is crushing your lungs and other internal organs “Y-yeah, I’m fine.” You said softly as John helps you up.

“Fine my butt Dave, I nearly had a heart attack when a glanced over the side of the ship and saw you get pinned down by that guy!” John exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. John was your best bro and had been for almost as long as you and Rose. It was clear from the look on his face that he was mad but his eyes showed his concern and fear for your safety, the raven haired boy was never any good at hiding his emotions in those sky blue eyes of his. 

“Sorry dude,” You say with a small smile, not knowing what else to tell him. That you weren’t in any danger? He wouldn’t believe that... That you let your guard down? That would just make him worry more.

John sighed and punched your shoulder playfully “Yeah, well you better be you big dumb jerk, Vriskas going to have my head for leaving the ship half way through landing.” You quirk an eyebrow up and laugh “What? You left Sollux holding up the whole ship on his own?! You are so dead, spider bitch is gonna wrap you up and lock you in the dungeon and slowly drain the life out of you by making Kankri watch over you.” You laugh slightly louder at the horror that washes over his face. You move your hand up to adjust your glasses when you realise that you aren’t wearing them, panicked you quickly glance around you and find them now too far from where you and John are currently standing. You bend down and pick them up, quickly putting them back on, the ease and comfort the shades give you is instant. You always feel a bit more protected with the dark lenses covering your eyes, because of your sensitivity and the fact that it gives you a layer of defence between yourself and others.

“I’m too young to have it end like this Dave!” John shouted as he fell to his knees dramatically, you roll your eyes with a smile and offer a hand to pull him back up “Oh dear friend of mine, tis such a terrible fate! I will place fresh flowers on your grave every morning in your memory!” he peeks up at you through his hands that are covering his eyes “Every morning at the butt crack of dawn?” he asks with a toothy smirk and you smile back at him. “Hell yes. Every day at the plush hours of the butt crack of dawn I will rise and place the sickest bunch of flowers on your grave.” He chuckles and takes your hand; you pull him to his feet.

Glancing down at the unconscious lump that is Dirk you frown lightly “… What are we going to do with the ship?” you ask, sometimes the captain leaves the ships once we have what we came for, other times she sinks them it all depends on her mood and considering that we didn’t get as much treasure as we wanted and the fact that John nearly let the ship fall out of the sky you get the feeling that Captain Spider Bitch would be a little trigger happy today.

John scratches the back of his head and shrugs “Dunno, lets go find out.”


	9. Flash of Silver

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is kind of short but I thought I would throw it out here before I finish my exams. Once my exams are finished I will have more time to write up chapters, hopefully~  
> Anyway, hope you enjoy this :3

Be Dirk Strider……

It seems that the Prince of Hearts is out of commission right now, you will have to come back another time.

….

Well then, I guess that leaves only one option.

You continue to be Dave.

You and John walk along the ship to where a number of your crew had started to gather. Each step that you take away from Dirk felt like you were wrenching your heart out slowly, you just about managed not to glance back at the unconscious and possibly brain damaged man…. Maybe you should head back and make sure he was still breathing? After all, that knock to the head seemed pretty bad an- NO! No, just keep walking! Don’t think about the possibly dead mysterious, sunset eyed, good looking, and elegant sword wilder…. Yeah, you can do that.

You reach the small cluster of your friends that are standing near two more unconscious bodies. The kind but inappropriately dressed guy who found you and Rose when you entered the ship and a girl who vaguely reminded you of Rose herself, you couldn’t put your finger on it but something about her face and hair colour seemed similar. Speaking of Rose, she walks over to your side and gives you a small smile that doesn’t reach her troubled eyes. You want to grab her hand and find out what’s wrong but you don’t have time as Vriska is already storming over to the three of you.

“What the hell was all that about John?! You almost let my ship fall right out of the fuckin’ sky!” She yelled, throwing her hands up in the air to emphasise her frustration. John shrinks in on himself lightly and you feel guilt grip your soul, it was kind of your fault after all. 

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean too, it’s just that Dave looked like he was in trouble so I swooped down to stop him from getting hurt or worse.” John spoke quickly in his defence and you couldn’t help but internally wince when you feel Rose’s eyes snap to you at John’s confession. You avoid looking at her but you can feel the mother hen instinct roll off her in waves, you’ll deal with that later. 

Vriska frowns and looks over at you, she takes in your probably scruffy and exhausted exterior before looking back at John and pinching the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed “Uggggggggh,” she sighed “fine, whatever. Just don’t let it happen again!” She snaps at the raven haired boy, though her anger towards him had dimmed slightly. John nodded eagerly, happy to be forgiven by their scary captain. Vriska gives you another quick glance over just to make sure you weren’t missing an arm or anything before she started to turn back to the rest of the group.

“Okay guys, grab anything valuable and head back to the ship! Hu-”

“Wait!” You exclaim, taking a step towards her “What… What are we planning to do with the ship?” you ask, glancing down at the two teens out cold on the floor in front of you. You can feel everyone’s eyes on you, you don’t normally get involved with what happens to the ships once you’ve done your job, you normally just roll with whatever Vriska and the others decide. Vriska turns back to you and razes an eyebrow in slight confusion “We’ll just sink it; a lot of the crew are already dead so we might as well kill the rest.” She shrugs with disinterest. You feel a cold grip on your heart, it’s true that you and Rose took out more than half of the crew and your friends must have taken out the rest but sinking the ship would mean killing Dirk and the other two teens. 

The rest of the crew also looked a little uneasy, these kids (Although the same age as most of your crew) were the youngest that any of you would have sentenced to death. None of your friends spoke up against Vriska’s idea, not that you expected them too, they didn’t know any of the kids… Well you didn’t ether but you didn’t want them to die.

You didn’t want Dirk to die; you don’t even want to imagine the light slowly fading from those beautiful sunset eyes. 

You’re about to make up some stupid excuse that wouldn’t change her mind in the slightest when Rose spoke up beside you. “I don’t think we should kill them.” Everyone seemed startled by Roses sudden involvement because she, like yourself, never intervened with Vriska’s decisions on what to do with the ship after the initial attack.

Vriska frowned and crossed her arms, staring at Rose “Why not? This whole ship has been nothing but trouble for us. We have less gold than we wanted, wasted an entire night and nearly lost Dave!” She gestured wildly at you with her prosthetic arm as if to emphasise her point “And you want to spare these rich idiots?”  
Rose nodded and glanced between you and the unconscious girl on the ground before her gaze settled back on Vriska “I believe that we should take the three of them onboard and hold them for ransom.” She insists, eyes narrowing as Vriska scoffed. “Like hell I’m keeping three stuck up idiots on my ship! I’m the captain here and I say we leave them and sink the ship.” She growled out, Rose glared darkly at her and spoke in a low sinister voice “You are only the captain for as long as I allow you to be.”

The air around the ship grew cold as the two children of light glared at each other, the tension in the group began to rise, as it wasn’t very often that two people from the country of light fought but when they did it was never pretty. Rose’s skin was darkening slightly from its normal pale cream colour to a dull gray, growing darker shade by shade and Vriska was reaching for her cutlass. You had to think of a way to stop the fight and save the three teens. You see a flash of silver steal from Vriska’s cutlass before quickly stepping in between them, facing Vriska with hands up to pacify her “Stop! Let’s not be too hasty shall we,” You chuckle nervously “I… I think we should listen to Rose and take them onboard with us.”

Vriska stared at you in shock and you could faintly hear John exclaim a confused “What?!” behind you, over the sound of your own loud heart beat “Well… It’s just, if we keep them for ransom then… then we can get all the money from their families that we didn’t manage to get from the ship!” you insist, hoping that Vriska will listen to your reasoning. 

She frowns but removes her hand from her sword, she huffs but turns away, flipping her long hair “Fine, we can milk them for all their worth. Vantas, Lalonde you collect the brats. The rest of you back to the ship!” The crew split up instantly, not wanting to hang around after the very near fight. Rose passes you and gives you a warm smile, her skin back it its creamy colour, she walked towards the knocked out girl and picked her up with ease. Karkat tossed the boy in shorts over one shoulder and walked away to collect Dirk, grumbling angrily to himself. 

You give a sigh of relief when John paps you on the shoulder, turning you see your normally carefree friend with a frown, his bright blue eyes clouded with slight frustration. You blink in surprise and in that moment the expression on his face was gone and replaced with his normal happy go lucky smile “Lets head back to the ship, yeah?” He asked, arms already wrapping around your waist and pulling you closer so that you were standing on his feet. 

You give a small nod and wrap your own arms around his neck securely as John slowly floated off the deck and started flying towards the ship. You spare a glance over his shoulder and spot Karkat down below carrying both Dirk and the boy in shorts and you let yourself relax.

He’s okay.

…

For now.


	10. Green Fading From Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quite flashback heavy chapter, sorry if it seems a little boring but this chapter is in Dirks pov, I feel I've kept everyone worried about him for a little bit too long >:3

You are now the young prince of hearts.

You are currently sat in a large leather chair that is too big for your six year old body, reading one of the many large tomes that are filling up your fathers study. Your father sits a few feet away, working quietly through the stack of papers that he as King must read through, sign and reply back too. You spare a glance at him from over the top of the large volume in your hands. 

Your father is a very calm and collected man who was fair to everyone while still being a strict and sometimes feared ruler when he had to be. You often hear the maids and butlers talking about how handsome he is and you suppose he was but he was tragically handsome, with the kind of soul that had seen much hardship and sorrow but still managed to smile kindly.

You look back at the book you were reading. You often spend time in your fathers study like this, just sat in silence with him as he works and you read through the books he had collected over the years. Dave was currently having one of his art lessons, so for once the two of you weren’t connected at the hip. The only times the two of you were ever apart is when he had his music and art lessons or you had some craft lesson. 

The book you were reading was something that even someone twice your age would find difficult to get through but all your teachers say that you are wise beyond your years, so you don’t find it too difficult to read and quite enjoy gaining new knowledge. The book you were reading was explaining how people had certain eye colours depending on their kingdoms of origin. It explained how people from the kingdom of Space had bright green eyes, while people from the kingdom of Breath had sky blue eyes. You read through a few more examples before frowning slightly in confusion. 

“Father?” You ask, waiting silently as your father continued writing. After a few moments he had finished the page he was writing, pushing the finished page aside he stood up and walked towards you, resting a hand on the back of the large chair you sat in he lent over slightly to see the book you were holding “Are you stuck on another word?” he asked kindly, haven already gotten up a number of times to explain and pronounce some words that you didn’t know the meanings of. You shake your head slightly and point at the page with the different eye colours and origins. 

“I’m confused about the chart. It says here that people from the Space kingdom have bright green eyes,” you state and your father nods “but my friend Jake has bright green eyes and he’s from the Hope kingdom.” You frown, looking up at your father, he smiles back and answers. “It’s because of a thing called dominate and recessive genes. When the two parents have the same eye colour, their children will also have that eye colour.”

“… So if both parents have blue eyes, the child will have blue eyes?” You ask tentatively, feeling proud of yourself when he nods. “However sometimes parents or grandparents have different coloured eyes, which means?” he pauses, waiting for you to answer. You chew on your lip as you think “It means… that the children might have different coloured eyes?” He smiles brighter and ruffles your hair lightly “Correct. Your little friend must have someone in his family that is from the Space Kingdom in order to have green eyes. Just remember that you can’t create a colour that doesn’t already exist, after all the colour must have come from somewhere.” He says softly and pats your head before heading towards his desk. 

You look back at the chart of eye colours and kingdoms before realising that one colour was missing. “Why is there no red?” you ask in surprise, your father pauses on his way to his desk as you flick through some more pages, skimming through all the colour and kingdom examples the book gives.

_Dark blue for Void, brown or cobalt for Light, orange or olive for Heart, brown and blue for Doom, violet for Hope... ___

__You continue flicking through but couldn’t find red eyes mentioned anywhere; you skip a few chapters and skim through the colour mixes that the book states can sometimes accrue when two people from different kingdoms mix._ _

_Light blue for Life and Breath, pink for Void and Light… ___

____The colour red wasn’t mentioned there ether._ _ _ _

____You look up at your father and see his sad eyes and small frown; you wait patiently until he is ready to speak. Eventually he sighs and walks back over to you; he takes the book gently from your hands and places it on the side before taking your small hand in his and leading you out of the study “Come on kiddo, story time.” He says without enthusiasm. The two of you walk slowly down the empty palace hallways as he speaks._ _ _ _

____“Once upon a time.” he begins and you cringe at the childish opening, having always hated fantasy stories. “There where twelve kingdoms,” Your head jerks up to gaze up at him in surprise, because you knew he was going to tell you something factual but you could hardly believe what he just said. After all there were only ten kingdoms, eleven if you counted the veil but no one does._ _ _ _

____“The twelve kingdoms tried to live in harmony but peace was hard to maintain with so many different people. Some kingdoms were loved, others feared... There were three kingdoms that were feared, this was because of their unparalleled power; the kingdom of Space, the kingdom of Blood and the kingdom of Time.” He said softly, taking you down a different hallway, heading towards your mothers green house. You knew it was this direction but nether you or Dave had ever been allowed in._ _ _ _

____“The three kingdoms started a war with each other, no one knows why, though people believe that the kingdoms of Space and Blood joined forces to fight the kingdom of Time that was being controlled by an evil king. Many kingdoms took sides and war raged across the lands. The battle was long and the losses grave, but in the end the kingdom of Space managed to win, unfortunately it involved the complete destruction of both the kingdom of Time and Blood.”_ _ _ _

____“Why did the kingdom of Space destroy their allies?” you interrupted, confused since the kingdom of blood seemed to be helping the Space kingdom. You father glances down at you and gave a sad smile “No one knows why the Space kingdom destroyed the kingdom of blood I’m afraid, though many think that the attack was unintentional as the Space kingdom mourned the loss of their ally.”_ _ _ _

____The conversation comes to an end as the two of you approach the pink copper doors of your mothers green house; your father removes a key from a chain around his neck and unlocks the doors. You can’t help the feeling of excitement that fills you as you are finally being let into the one forbidden room, you’ll have to make father bring Dave in here later._ _ _ _

____The green house was as you expected, filled with more of the same pink flowers and plants that fill up all of your mothers outdoor gardens, the sides of the large green house was lined up with strawberry bushes and a few tall trees that were a mix of cherry, apple and peach. The room living up to its name as the bright green appeared in every inch of the room, mixed with the pink flowers. The air was sweet with the scent of flowers and fruit, as a soft breeze coming from the open windows dislodge pink petals and making them dance across the shining glass enclose._ _ _ _

____What you hadn’t expected inside the green house was the large portrait of a woman on the far wall, framed with pink and red roses. The woman had long curly platinum blonde hair, similar to yours and Daves, which was loosely platted over her shoulder and seemed to be braded with thin lines of gold and shining red gems. Her cheeks flushed with life and her smile filled with kindness. She was sat on a tall stool wearing an elegant pink dress that just brushed the floor. The only jewellery the woman had on her was the gems and gold braided into her hair, a simple gold wedding band with a red stone in the centre and a pink gold tiara sat atop her head._ _ _ _

____You knew instantly that you were gazing up at the face of your mother; any one of her features would have told you that, from her hair colour, to her smile which was much like your own. However what you couldn’t help staring at was her eyes, she had Dave’s eyes, or rather Dave had her eyes. They were exactly the same, it was as if someone had taken the eyes from this woman’s painting and gave them to Dave, from the almond shape to the thick set of lashes and the deep red colour._ _ _ _

____You could feel those eyes burn through your soul like the very fire in which they had stolen their colour from._ _ _ _

____You let out a jagged breath, unaware that you had been holding it in “…That’s… is that…” you hesitate, unable to get the words out and unwilling to tear your eyes from hers. Your father squeezes your little hand slightly “Yes, it’s your mother.” He said sadly, you knew without looking at him that his expression was filled with sorrow. “She was the last descendant of the kingdom of Time.”_ _ _ _

____You rip your eyes from the painting to stare up at him, your mother was dead. She died giving birth to you and Dave, you gained your fathers genetics and your brother gained hers. Meaning that since your mother was dead; Dave was the last surviving member of the kingdom of Time.  
“I’ll protect him! I’ll keep him safe!” you insist, making a promise right then and there that you would protect Dave no matter what, nothing and no one was going to persuade your stubborn six year old mind otherwise._ _ _ _

____Your father smiled lovingly down at you and squeezed your hand once more “I know you will.”  
~~~_ _ _ _

____Prince of heart, awaken._ _ _ _

____ _ _

____Your mind slowly comes back to consciousness with the colours pink and green fading from memory. Your eyes flicker open for a second before the throbbing pain hits you and makes your sight swim. The pain is dull and pounding, coming from the back of your head, you close your eyes once more to try and work out what was going on. Taking steady breaths you focus on everything but the pain in the back of your skull; the slightly cold feeling coming from the floor that you were currently lying down on, the sharp smell of blood and dust, and the sounds of breathing coming from nearby and the faint sound of waves._ _ _ _

____Once you feel that you are able to deal with the pain without grinding your teeth too much you open your eyes again, your surrounding is dark and you couldn’t be more thankful as the light would only exaggerate the pain you feel. It takes a few moments for your eyes to adjust to the darkness, just enough time for you to sit up and slowly relax back against a wall that seemed to be behind you. When you can actually make out shapes and colours in the dark you realise that you are currently sat in a dusty looking cell, within what you assume was the pirate ship, one side of the cell was lined with strong steel bars that looked rusted but where most likely as strong as the day they were placed in._ _ _ _

____Glancing to your side you noticed Jake and Roxy beginning to stir from their passed out state, you don’t remember them being knocked out but then again you had been so focused on Dave that you had just abandoned them. The feeling of guilt grips you but doesn’t stay for long in your pain riddled mind._ _ _ _

____“Ugggh...” Jake grumbles as he sits up, rubbing the side of his head, Roxy sits up without a noise of complaint but winces and lightly touches her temple before wincing again. “W-where are we?” she asked quietly, you’re about to reply when a voice cuts through the darkness._ _ _ _

____“Oh good, you fuckers are awake.”_ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a few more flashbacks that I would like to include at a later date, but I would like to know how you guys feel about them. Are they too long? Do you enjoy them?  
> I just feel that I'm throwing too many flashbacks at you -.-"


	11. Strange Patterns Of Peach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the little gang formally meets Karkat and John  
> with a little surprise guest at the end :p

You are still Dirk Strider and all you can see is red eyes in the darkness.

Your heart immediately thought of Dave and your brain pushed that thought down as soon as it came up, the person lurking in the dark shadows just past the cell was not Dave.  
His voice was hoarse and loud, like he spent more time growling and shouting at people than he did talking to them. Dave’s voice was nothing like his, when the two of you where younger Dave had been a charmer, with a sweet kind voice that had everyone at his beck and call. 

Although it was the colour of the stranger’s eyes that cemented the belief that this person wasn’t Dave, the man had red eyes like Dave but they were the colour of blood and the colour you might associate with anger, Dave’s eyes were the colour of bright roses and shiny candy apples.

He stepped forwards, stepping into the dim light around the cage allowing us to see more than just those strangely bright blood red eyes. The scowl on his face matched the displeasure in his voice like you had imagined it would. His arms were crossed but his posture was that of a fighter and a good one at that. Though his appearance would suggest otherwise, with the top half of his body covered in a large black turtle neck jumper that had the celestial symbol of cancer placed in the centre in grey, his hair looked like it had fought an alley cat and lost, the boy also had shadows under his blood red eyes like the hours he slept a week were few and far between. 

“W-who are you?” Jake asked slowly, after a beat of silence, unsure if they would get an answer or if they were even allowed to converse with the other. The person shot a glare at each of us as he scoffed “You don’t need to know who I am or who anyone else is, the only things that you need to know are that you are our prisoners and that we are not a force to be taken lightly so don’t even think about attempting anything.” He huffed and stepped closer, wrapping one hand around the old bars as he lent closer, his eyes glinting dangerously. 

“If you’re lucky your stay on the Meteor won’t be long.” 

“..And if we aren’t lucky?” Roxy asked quietly, gulping silently when the person in front of them smirked, slightly sharp teeth showing “Well your stay aboard would also be short. So be quite, don’t go near my friends and I won’t have any reason to cull you fuckasses.” His warning was clear, the man didn’t want us to annoy him or get too close to anyone he cared about, which could have been the whole crew or just a handful of people for all you knew.

You shared a worried glance with your friends when a small jingle of keys caught your attention, the intimidating but seemingly sleep deprived man had pulled out a ring of keys and unlocked the barred prison door as if it was just another tedious task that he had been assigned. He pushed the creaky door open with little effort and walked in a few steps before crossing his arms again “Okay assholes, on your feet.” He growled, indicating with his chin that he wanted us up. 

The three of you slowly but surely got to your feet, it seemed that Roxy and Jake could also sense the man’s short temper and you were glad that no one was planning on finding out how short it was. Once the three of you were standing he glared at each of you in turn for a second time, those blood red eyes coming to rest on you. 

A soft breeze ruffled the man’s hair slightly which instantly caught your attention; you were in the hull of a large ship weren’t you? There was no way that, that strong of a wind could get down here.

“The one with blonde hair was the one who attacked him right?” the man asked to no one, accusing red eyes glaring you down as if willing you to combust by his hatred alone. 

“Yeah... That’s him.”  
You’re not proud to admit that you jumped when the raven haired boy materialised beside the other man, in fact you probably would have leapt backwards a good few feet in fright had your back not already been against the wall. The only thing that made you feel slightly better was the fact that your friends also jumped in surprise… that and the fact that Jake gave a small scream like a little child. 

The man in front of you was a little smaller than yourself with hair as black as shadows in the night, he had tanned skin that was littered with freckles, his eyes were so blue that it was as if he stole two pieces of the summer sky, those sky blue eyes were framed by dorky square glasses (much like Jakes own). The boy seemed to have a permanent smile glued to his face unlike the other who had done nothing but frown, glare and smirk at you and your friends.

The two people before you were as different as night and day, you don’t think you have ever seen such polar opposites.

The boy didn’t seem like a threat at first glance, even to your trained eye it was hard to pick out reasons why you shouldn’t trust the man in front of you however you found some.  
The first being that even under the silly blue hoodie with the ridicules long hood you could still see his arm muscles, people didn’t gain muscles like that in their arms and not know how to use them. The second thing that troubled you was his eyes, those sky blue eyes were darkening with alarming speed like an upcoming storm, an unsettling contrast to his happy carefree smile and goofy buck teeth. The final thing that had you worried was his sudden appearance in the room, you would have guessed he was a child of Void but given Roxy’s look of shock and his own blue eyes its more likely that he was a child of Breath.

Though you have never known a bad person from the Kingdom of Breath, you know that every kingdom has their good and bad people but travellers always state that the kingdom of Breath is one of the kindest and happiest places on Skaia, which makes it even harder to believe that the boy in front of you is a threat.

In the blink of an eye the boy vanished with another breeze and reappears right in front of you, he quickly grabbed a fistful of your shirt and lifted you up slightly, just enough that you had to stand on your tip toes to keep from getting chocked, before slamming you back into the wall. 

Stars danced across your vision as pain shot through your veins as you hit the wall and your still aching head was jolted, you had to bite your lip in order to stop the sounds of pain that you wanted to scream. You heard Jake and Roxy yell something and begin to move in your direction only to stop when an angry growl echoed across the small cell.

You open your eyes after a few minutes once the spike of pain started to die down, ears still ringing and your head filled with so much pain that it now feels like it has its own heart beat. You spare a glance over at Roxy and Jake to see them glaring at the raven haired boy holding you up on your tiptoes, the red eyed boy who was now holding twin sickles was stood between your friends and you, stopping them from getting any closer. 

You glance down at the boy gripping your shirt, his eyes swirled with anger like a violent storm, his happy go lucky smile was gone and in its place a stern frown.  
“Now, I’m only going to tell you once so you had better pay attention,” His eyes hardened “I don’t want to see you or your little friends causing any trouble and I especially don’t want you going anywhere near Dave, you understand? You almost killed him once and there’s no way in hell that I’m going to let you repeat that. Just know that I knocked you out the first time and I can do it again.” He growled, pushing you harder against the wall making your head pulse with agony.

So it was this guy that knocked you out.

You hissed in pain and stared down at him as he glared back “People don’t believe that children from the Kingdom of breath are scary, but cross me and I will show you the horrors of my kingdom the likes of which no soul has ever had the misfortune to see.” He snarled, blue eyes swirling like a typhoon, he stared you down for a few more seconds before releasing you. 

You stumbled slightly but caught yourself by leaning heavily against the wall, the guy walks back to the entrance of the cell before spinning on his heels and smiling happily “Stay away from the people that I love and we’ll get along just fine, that is if the Captain lets you live after the first eight seconds!” he chuckled softly and tossed a wave to the red eyed boy “Have fun Karkat and if anyone asks I wasn’t here, ‘kay!” his smile brightened before he vanished with a small breeze. 

“God fucking damn it John!” The red eyed boy, who you now know as Karkat, snarled clearly annoyed at the blue eyed boy named John. 

Jake and Roxy rushed to your side instantly, helping you get your balance back by letting you lean on them, Roxy holding onto one arm while Jake clung to the other as if they would never let you go again. Which you are starting to believe might happen if that look in their eyes was anything to go by.

“I’m alright.” You say softly, wanting to ease the pain that was written all over your friends faces. Normally you would be angry or at the very least annoyed that someone had tried to hurt you and had threatened you but instead you are just kind of glad that Dave has managed to find people who were willing and able to protect him. After all from Johns prospective it must have looked like you were indeed trying to kill Dave and he instantly came to your brothers rescue, you can’t hate the guy for protecting him. Though it seems that your friends could and would do more than their fare share of hating on John.

“If that darn ruffian touches you again, well I’ll…. I’ll-!” Jake huffed angrily, holding your arm tighter. 

“Yeah whatever, you assholes are still our prisoners and the idiot was right, as long as you stay away from Dave… and from my brother for that matter, you fuckers should be just fine.” Karkat interrupts and huffs, he had moved towards the cell door and thankfully put away his weapon. “Now if you fuckers will follow me-”

“Karkat language!” a stern voice shouted before light flooded the grey room. 

After blinking the shapes from your eyes you looked over and saw a person at the other end of the room, they must have been Karkat’s brother because he also had the same blood red eyes. The man that had turned on an oil lamp and filled the room with light looked older than Karkat though clearly got more rest than his younger brother because he didn’t have the dark circles under his eyes. He was about the same height as Karkat and had pure white hair that seemed to be a tamed version of his brothers messy hair, he has wearing a stunning red turtle neck jumper that matched his blood red eyes perfectly and a pair of dark pants with a red stripe running down the outside. 

However the one thing that that really stood out about the older man’s appearance was the frost like scars curling across his right cheek and down the side of his neck, the strange patterns of peach running across ivory skin. 

You heard a low growl and you, Jake and Roxy turn to stare at Karkat who was glaring at you with the intensity of a blinding sun, it was clear that you had all been staring a little too long at his brothers scars and it was not something that the younger was going to forgive if you continued, the three of you quickly looked away. 

“Really now Karkat, that’s no way to talk to our guests.” The brother sighed, crossing his arms and walking closer to the cell, from what you could see it seemed as though the strange scar were also on his right hand, which must have meant that they ran down the full length of his arm.

“They aren’t fu-… damn guests Kankri, they’re prisoners.” Karkat frowned, resting his head in his hands. “Well they are people aren’t they? And people need to be given respect and,” Kankri started, closing his eyes and holding up a finger like he was making a point.

You, Roxy and Jake could do nothing but stare in bewilderment at the strange interaction between the two as Karkat let out a frustrated groan “Yeah yeah yeah, I know! I know, really I get it, it’s been real fu- darn nice talking with you Kanny but can we save this shi- interesting lecture until after I’ve taken these guys to the captain? It would be impolite to keep her waiting you know.” He said through grinding teeth.

Kankri tilted his head slightly and put a hand on his chin “Hmm, yes it wouldn’t be right to keep her waiting… Very well, we will save this for another time, would you like me to accompany you?” he asked already walking over to join Karkat.

“I’d love you too! Really I would, but I heard that Sollux was looking for you, something to do with helping him with Mituna or something, sounded important!” Karkat quickly insisted. 

“Oh dear me, I had better find out what the trouble is then, I’ll catch up with you later Karkat!” he waved goodbye with a small smile and left the room as Karkat whispered to himself “Oh thank you Gog.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The scars that I've put on Kankri will hopefully be explained (though much later) and kind of look like lightning scars 
> 
> Also, Johns not too much of a dick, he just wants to keep Dave and his friends safe :3


	12. The Sun In Cobalt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wow this took far too long to write, sorry!
> 
> In which Dave needs sleep and Dirk meets the Captain and her first mate

You are once again Dave, and you are just so tired.

 

You sighed to yourself, removing your shades you look up at the still dark night sky watching the shining stars appear and disappear behind the smoky clouds.

You feel exhausted in every way possible. 

Closing your eyes you lean back against the railing of the crows nest and slide down until you are seated on the dark wooded floor, head still tilted skyward, after a coup of minutes you reopened your eyes to gaze up at the sky once more, wanting to get lost in the frozen stars and ever changing clouds. 

You were physically drained from nearly freezing to death a few hours ago and fighting with all those armed guards wasn’t really a walk in the park, there was also that hard hit to your wrist that still ached dully. 

Mentally you were exhausted from the trip to the dreamscape and the argument between Rose and the Captain might as well have been icing on the ‘making your brain hurt’ cake. 

And how were you doing emotionally you ask? 

An image of the blonde haired orange eyed boy flashes instantly across your mind and you close your eyes once more, unable to take in too much sensory data at the moment. 

Emotionally you were burnt out, too many emotions and confusion swirling around in your body to comprehend any of them. The strange emotions that were popping up during your fight with the boy were the ones that you just couldn’t understand, like the instant relief at finding him, happiness that surged inside once you met his eyes and the utterly overwhelming feeling of love at seeing Dirk. You were also feeling confusion and fear because someone you had never met until a few hours ago shouldn’t be able to bring out such intense emotions in you.

You were giving yourself a headache with all of the confusion and worry.

Everything just suddenly seemed too much too take in and… and you were just so unbelievably tired 

“You’ll catch a cold sleeping up here.” Roses voice cuts softly through the darkness, her voice was low and quite which you greatly appreciated, you grunt in reply but otherwise don’t move or even open your eyes until you feel her settle down beside you. You crack open one eye and glance down at her as she rests her head against your shoulder.

“…Today was a strange day, huh?” you ask, making polite conversation as you glanced back up at the stars. You came up here to get away from everyone and hopefully remove yourself from all your confusion, the only thing you successfully did was remove yourself from the situation, the confusion just followed you, growing with every passing second. 

“Indeed. It has been quite a taxing day to say the least,” She sighs softly, wrapping her arms around your waist in a strange side hug, a hug that you didn’t even know you needed until now “It’s nice to get away from everything every now and then.” 

“Yeah,” You agree, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and resting your head on hers, closing your eyes once more as tears collected in them “It is.”

The two of you are silent for what seems like eternity but is really just a couple of minutes ( 7 minutes 28.5 seconds to be exact). “You know, we might catch a cold sleeping up here.” You mumble into her hair, even though you said that you don’t think you could will your body to move anymore. You’re comfy and warmed by the body next to you. Rose doesn’t reply she just starts humming very softly, the sound almost taken by the void of the night sky and the gentle winds of the ocean. The breeze drifted through the sky, taking Rose’s melody with it until you were sure that only Rose and you could hear the tune before it was stolen by the night air.

And just like that you slowly drift off, leaving all your exhaustion and confusion behind to sleep and dream in peace. 

 

Let Dave rest and be the other guy ===>

 

You are now Dirk Strider 

 

You and your friends were being led down a hallway by the grumpy prison guard Karkat, who was grumbling to himself constantly, about what you couldn’t stay but you heard the occasional mention of a person and swears.

Roxy and Jake walked at your sides, though both of them where ever so slightly in front. You caught a few of their shared glances and drew the conclusion that they were preparing to defend you, they both seemed ready to jump directly in front of you and fight off anyone who tried to attack or threaten you like the boy in the jail had. It warmed your heart that you had friends that would go to such lengths to help you but at the same time you wouldn’t let them hurt themselves in your defence, you wouldn’t be able to live with yourself if someone else got hurt and died in your place.

You took a small breath and squared your shoulders, lifting your head and walking tall like your heart wasn’t breaking at finding and then loosing Dave again, like your mind wasn’t going a mile a minute trying to figure out how you could get your friends, Dave and yourself off this damned pirate ship before anyone got hurt or worse.

Stay strong Dirk, weakness equals death in these places. Bide your time and save them. 

Karkat stopped in front of a solid looking black door with a symbol of the sun in cobalt “Time to meet the Captain, oh and FYI, she wanted to leave you all on your ship to die…. Most of us did.” He added with a huff before throwing open the door and walking inside.

You share a glance with your friends before fallowing your prison guard inside, it’s not like you had anywhere to run. 

The room you entered was large and spacious, the decorated with numerous maps that where stuck haphazardly all over the walls, a seemingly out of place pile of treasure was piled in one corner and in the centre of the room was a big circle table that had a map of the sky engraved into the black wood. 

There were two women stood in the room at the far end of the table. One had her hands on the table, looking down at the star map studying it, the other was stood at her side leaning against a cane.  
The one with the cane was short and heavyset, with tanned skin and red hair that was cut off at her shoulders. She had strange red tinted glasses and her black lips pulled up into large smirk as she gazed in your direction.

The other woman stood up straight and placed her metal prosthetic hand on her hip. She had long blonde hair that reached her lower back and the blue eyes of the Kingdom of Light…. Well blue eye. The blonde before you was wearing an eye patch over her left eye and from what you could see from the skin around it she had definitely been burnt. She stood tall and thin, with a black and blue coat and red knee high boots.

The blonde narrowed her eye at the three of you “I suppose it would be rude not to welcome you aboard my ship, so welcome to The Meteor, I hope that your stay with us will be short.” She said without a smile as she walked towards you and your friends, who were quick to step in front of you. 

“You probably already know but neither I nor most of the crew want you on The Meteor, frankly it’s nothing short of a miracle that the three of you ended up on my ship and relatively unharmed at that.” She frowned, making it clear that their lives were a hindrance to her. 

“Then why keep us on the ship?” Roxy asked with a brave glare, which was met with a venomous glare from the captain. “One of the reasons that you are still here is because the three of you can be put to some use. That ship of yours didn’t have nearly enough treasure on it to satisfy us, so you are here because you might be used for ransom and if no one will be willing to pay then we can at least get some target practice out of the three of you.” 

“Oh they can help us alright; we can probably get three times the ransom since they all smell like they are from different kingdoms.” The redhead cackled as she walked around the table to stand next to the captain, leaning on her dragon headed cane. 

You resist the urge to frown, it seems like the pirates hadn’t worked out that you were the prince of the Heart Kingdom and you had to keep it that way, who knows what they would do with the knowledge. Probably take every last penny from your kingdom and knowing your people they would gladly hand it all over if it meant your safe return. 

“If that’s only one of the reasons… what’s the other?” Jake asked both him and Roxy still protectively in front of you but you could see that they were both hesitant, because the more they protected you the more important you seemed and the more important you seemed the more curious the pirates would be. 

The redhead seemed to staring right into your eyes but you couldn’t really tell while she wore those red glasses, the manic looking grin still in place. 

The captain glared at Jake for a moment and looked him over with narrowed eye. “… You are alive because my Seer of Light requested it.” She spoke and made a swishing motion with her hand as if dismissing the statement.

Roxy tensed instantly at the mention of the Seer of Light.


	13. Violet and Indigo Scarf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last Seer of Light

Be Dave ==>

Dave is still asleep, let the boy rest.

 

You continue to be Dirk Strider;

 

The talk with the Captain went quickly after the mention of the Seer who saved us, they asked who we were but we only gave them basic information that we were sure they couldn’t trace anything back and find out who they really were. Roxy just glared at the duo not saying anything, leaving Jake and you to trying and talk our way out of this.  
You still couldn’t shake the feeling that the short girl with the insane grin could see right into your mind and knew exactly who the three of you were, but refrained from saying anything just to watch you squirm.

“Well if that’s all the information that you idiots are gonna give us then the three of you can just go, take them back to the cell Karkat, we’ll get more info out of them later.” Vriska huffed, waving her prosthetic hand as she turned back to her map table. 

“Wait!” Roxy spoke up, taking a step towards the pair, a panicked expression crossed Jakes face and you where sure yours mirrored it. “You said the ‘Seer of Light’ was the reason that we are still alive but that’s impossible!”

“What? You got a problem with my crew?” The captain frowned, turning back towards the three of you and stepping closer. You and Jake grabbed Roxy’s arms and tried to pull her back “Roxy don’t.” Jake whispered worried, they weren’t really in a position to question anyone and doing so could only end badly for them.

“I’m not going to stand by and let some stupid group of low lives ruin the name of the Seer of Light!” Roxy growled, attempting to step forward only to be pulled back, Jake quickly stepped in front of her, hands up in a pacifying gesture “S-she’s just rambling, must have w-wacked her noggin pretty hard, let's not g-get into a row.” He stuttered out.

“NO I’M N-!” Roxy tried to yell, only for the sound to be stopped by your hand. You held her close with your other arm, trying to stop her from doing anything rash “Roxy please…” you begged in a whisper, feeling relived when she stopped struggling against you. 

Vriska stepped closer and poked Jake hard in the chest with a metallic finger, making the boy stumble back slightly “You had better teach your friend some manners and pray you are all worth the trouble you are causing cause I am not the forgiving type. No one insults my crew but me.” She hissed, her good eye glaring so wickedly that even you flinched from her gaze. “Take them from my sight!” 

They were her last words before Karkat somehow managed to drag all three of you out of the room and back to your original cell, throwing the three of you in and locking the door before leaving without a word. If your captures had planned to feed you that day you were sure the captain was going to make sure you didn’t get the meal.

You and Jake turned to face Roxy, who at least had the decency to look ashamed. “Sorry…” she mumbled sadly, hugging her knees to her chest. The two of you slumped down next to her “What was all that about Roxy?” you asked, worried about your friend’s outburst, she was normally so cool headed.

“Yeah, what’s so important about the Seer of Light?” Jake asked softly, Roxy just stared at the ground and sighed. “You really want to know why I care so much? It’s because the Seer of Light was my Mother and these pirates are claiming that one of them is the Seer of Light?! It’s so disrespectful!” she exclaimed, tears forming in her eyes from anger and frustration.

You stayed silent, in all honestly you didn’t know what to say and happily let Jake talk in your stead. “…But don’t the Kingdoms Seers change after one has… umm… passed on?” he questioned, wincing at his own words. You all knew that Roxy had lost her Mother at birth and since she had never known a mother’s love, much like yourself, it was kind of a sore topic.

“Yeah normally they do, but the Kingdom of Light has never had another Seer. They let my mother keep the title to honour her.” She sniffed and rubbed her eyes angrily “Let me tell you her story.” 

 

~~ 

Not too long ago Rosaline Lalonde was a Seer of the Light kingdom, Seers were normally those with the power of prediction, they were spiritual leaders with almost the same amount of honour as Royalty. Rosaline was the most promising Seer the ten kingdoms had ever seen, the Kingdom of Light basked in a golden age with their Seer steering them. 

However this golden age did not last.

Rosaline fell pregnant despite having never engaged in sexual acts, the magical conception was at first considered a gift from the Gods. It was indeed caused by the Gods hand but not the ones that the priests first believed. 

It was revealed that the pregnancy was caused not by the gods of light but by the dark gods of the veil, the Kingdom panicked as they realised the child within the Seer would be a harbinger of evil and darkness. The priests tired to convince Rosaline to let them remove the monster from her body; she refused and ran from the kingdom. She fled to the one place where everyone was welcome regardless, the Kingdom of Void.

Her reasons for refusing the priests are unknown, perhaps she thought the child deserved a chance to live or perhaps she just didn’t like to be told what to do with her own body.

After hearing her story, the Royal family of the Kingdom of Void took pity on her and allowed her to stay with them. During the course of her pregnancy the Kingdom of Light   
begged her to get rid of the child and return to them.

She refused time and time again, eventually she even refused to see them when they came to the palace. Rosaline spent the majority of her days in the temple, praying to the gods of light and void as well as conducting a variety of rituals. 

After one extremely complicated and time consuming ritual Rosaline stayed in the palace, never entering the temple or conducting and form or spiritual activity again. Instead the staff at the palace would say that she acted that of a woman preparing to become a mother.

She rested like she should and began knitting a variety of baby clothes and a long violet and indigo scarf, even making a number of items for the young heirs of Void. She hummed and sang sweetly to the child inside her and anyone who wanted to listen to the comforting sounds.

The day of the child’s birth came quickly, it was no surprise to anyone that the child was due only four months and twelve days after conception as it was a child of the gods.   
Rosaline lay on the bed, being attended to by the kingdom of Voids finest Doctor, the gentle palace maids and the Queen herself who was holding the Seers hand comforting her. There were only a few others in the room with them, those included a few members of the Kingdom of Light and the young Heir of Void who went by the name of Equius, the child was only six at the time but was here on request as the young heir had the ability to see souls.

It was Equius job to see if the baby was truly an evil soul or not, if it was then it would be handed over to the kingdom of light and disposed of. 

Just before the birth Rosaline had squeezed the Queens hand and asked her if she would take care of and guide her child, her little Roxy. The Queen agreed that in the event the child’s soul was clean she would personally watch over her. 

The baby girl was born with a small cry and was taken over to the young heir, those in the room waited with baited breath. 

“The child’s soul is void.” The young heir had spoken, those in the room relaxed until Rosaline cried out in pain, the Queen was pulled away from her side and instead waited at the other end of the room with Equius and the baby. 

Everyone could only watch in horror as the Seers skin turned black as night and her cries became more distorted and ancient. Everyone knew what had happened, Rosaline had given her light soul to the child, creating a soul of void in the baby but also leaving herself open to the evil which was expelled. 

It was quick and unpleasant, leaving the Queen and house maids in tears, Rosaline was dead. Killed by those in the Kingdom of Light and Void, the priests of both kingdoms were convinced that the monster she had become could not so easily be killed so they went to extra lengths to ensure that her corrupted soul would be bound for eternity.

The Queen kept her promise and raised the child named Roxy like one of her own and the Kingdom of Light allowed Rosaline to keep her title out of respect for her sacrifice that day.

“-and there has never been another Seer of Light since...” Roxy finished sadly, staring down at her knees with small tear tracks across her cheeks. “That’s why it matters so much to me… these pirates are using her name and I can’t just sit here and let them dirty the name of the woman who gave her life for mine… I can’t let them do that to my mother!”   
Roxy sobbed softly. You and Jake instantly pulled her into a hug, squishing her between the two of you. Mumbling apologies and soothing words you held your friends close.

 

Mentally changing your plan, escape from the cell, beat up the ‘seer of light’, rescue Dave and get off this ship and back to your Kingdom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it takes so long for me to update, I really do want to finish this story but motivation is a cruel mistress.  
> I'm really happy that so many of you like this story, your comments and kudos mean the world to me, thank you~! <3


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